


Defiant

by grace_is_overrated



Series: The Past I Don't Wanna Erase [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Betrayal, Cliffhangers, Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Eventual Fluff, F/M, Fights, Fist Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Enemies, Heartache, Heartbreak, Heavy Angst, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging, Machine Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Major Character Injury, Pain, Pre-Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Pre-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Psychological Trauma, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tags May Change, Trauma, basically this story takes place during the events of the game, if only briefly, no betas we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 63,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26131786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grace_is_overrated/pseuds/grace_is_overrated
Summary: Androids are not alive. They're machines, made to complete tasks for people. They were created to make lifeeasierfor people. Why is it, then, that they're suddenly making my life so much more complicated?When androids start going deviant and Lieutenant Anderson is tasked with investigating the new android-centric crimes alongside a CyberLife prototype, I didn't expect to get involved. Not my case, not my problem, right? But then I get myself involved anyway and I can't just leave well enough alone.This can only end badly.
Relationships: Connor (Detroit: Become Human) & Original Female Character(s), Connor (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Past I Don't Wanna Erase [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897591
Comments: 17
Kudos: 50





	1. Menage a Trois

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 5TH, 2038  
> PM 11:21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so the tags tell a little of the story behind this. I actually only just recently played DBH but wow I love it so much.
> 
> I've become kind of obsessed with a couple of ideas and I just really need to get them out of my system in writing. It's actually been so long since I wrote any fics, and I'm really excited to be diving into this. I've got the first few chapters done already, and there are going to be around 12 chapters in this (update: should actually be 16-17).
> 
> I really want to explore what it would actually be like to try and make an android/human romance work in this universe. The game takes place over 5 days, that's really not enough time to have a good slow burn or angst. Not that there isn't ANY in here, just... prepare to not get a completely satisfying ending. That's all I'm saying, I don't wanna spoil anything! There will be more to follow, though. I'm gonna run this slow burn into the ground, damnit.

I was wound so tightly that when my phone rang, I jumped and let out a small yelp.

“Fuck.”

I looked down at myself, tank top and shorts covered in tomato sauce, and sighed heavily at the mess of ravioli on the floor. I put the now-empty bowl on the counter before stepping over my wasted food to check the caller ID. Kida, my collie mix, bounded over to the food and I had to grab her collar to haul her with me as she whined and pulled to get to the delicacy now in her domain.

B. Collins flashed across the screen. I checked the time in the corner—11:21 PM—before I took a deep breath and answered.

“Hey, Ben, what’s up?” I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I’d deal with food later. Work always came first.

My co-worker paused as he no doubt took in the red splotches all over my shirt, but quickly caught himself. “Ali, hey. I’ve got a doozy for you. Hank’s supposed to be on the case, but he’s off who knows where and this guy isn’t getting any less dead.”

I nodded, well aware of the Lieutenant’s… habits. Kida yelped and tried to jump out of my grasp and I almost fell over her. “Kida, come on, sit down.” I pushed her butt onto the floor before turning my attention back to my call. “Yeah, OK, I’ll come down. Send me the details and I’ll head out in 5.”

Ben turned to talk to someone else at the scene before answering me, and I took the chance the grab a towel and wipe myself off a bit, still trying to wrangle Kida into submission. She licked at some rogue sauce that had fallen on the ground after another failed attempt to get to the goldmine just a couple feet away. “Yeah, yeah, will do. All right, Ali, I’m sending the address and notes over now. See you soon.”

I smiled as I looked back at the screen. “Sounds good. See you in a bit.” The call ended and I looked down at my girl. She stared up at me with her big, innocent brown eyes and let out a long whine followed by a sharp bark. I winced and shook my head. “No, not for you. I don’t get to eat it, so neither do you.”

She cocked her head to one side at my words and I smiled.

“You’re very cute, but it’s not gonna work and I need to get cleaned up and going. Come on.” I started to pull her along with me to my room. Violet, one of my roommates, stuck her head out of her office and raised an eyebrow at the mess I knew I looked like.

“You, uh, need some help there?”

Kida wagged her tail wildly and yapped at Violet who reached a hand out to give her some pats in response. I shook my head in exasperation. “I’ve got a case to get to, so if you could actually help me clean my poor dinner off the floor,” I ushered the over-excited Collie into my room as I talked, looking over my shoulder at Violet.

She laughed and came fully out of her office. “Yeah, yeah, sure.” I managed to get Kida in and she bounded onto the bed when I let her collar go. “You just want me to clean up your mess for you,” Violet called over her shoulder, already out of sight around the corner.

I snorted. “You caught me!” I called after her, stepping into my room and closing the door. Kida was already settled in her favorite spot at the corner of my bed.

I pulled my tank top off and tossed it into the hamper next to my dresser before heading into the bathroom to wash off. Just enough time under the water to rinse the sauce off, careful to keep my hair dry, and then I was getting dressed and giving Kida a goodbye pat as I left.

Violet was already back in her office and my mess gone when I got to the scene of the crime. I glanced at the clock. 11:36. I did one last sweep of my apartment, opening the door to my room to give Kida free reign while I was gone. She was napping peacefully on the bed and didn’t even flinch.

Jacket and keys in hand, I left my apartment for the actual crime scene, head buried in my tablet on the elevator ride down as I read through the case files Ben had sent over.

* * *

I pulled the collar of my jacket close as I walked through the front gate past the police cordon. The reporters and curious onlookers swarmed behind me, but I did my best to ignore them. The officer guarding the scene nodded at me as I passed, and I smiled back. Chris, a promising rookie fresh to the force, was standing in the front yard looking around at the mess outside as I walked up to him.

“Hey. Hell of a night for a homicide, huh?”

He turned to me and shook his head, a small smile in the corner. “Ali! Yeah, perfect weather.” He laughed and then did sort of a double take. “Wait, I thought Hank was assigned to this case? What are you doing here?”

My elbows crossed over the front of my jacket, trying desperately to keep my clothes as dry as possible. “Ben called me. Figured Hank might not show, I guess, wanted someone to take a look tonight.”

Before Chris could respond, the sound of a police siren caught our attention. I turned in time to see Hank’s old junker pulling up to the curb. I smirked. Great timing.

“Think I should head out?” I turned back to Chris and shoved my hands in my pockets, resigned to let the rainwater slip into my jacket.

He shook his head. “You’re already here, may as well see it through. You always find a way to dig up stuff nobody else sees so it’s not like you’re useless.” I snorted. “Up to you, though. If you wanna head out I doubt Ben would mind, and I certainly won’t stop you.”

I nodded and looked back to see Hank walking up to the front gate. I was about to bid my farewell when my eye caught the android training slightly behind him. I hesitated a second. “I may as well hang around. See what’s going on.”

“All right, whatever suits ya. I’ll be inside.”

A quick nod in Chris’ direction as he walked away. “Yeah, see you in there.” I turned back and grinned at Hank as he walked up to me.

“Grace, what the hell are you doin’ here?” His voice was gruff but not entirely hostile. He did seem wound up though. I figured I could piece together the why easily enough.

I smirked. “Nice to see you too, Hank.” He mumbled something in reply and stopped in front of me.

“Androids are not permitted beyond this point.”

I looked over to the officer at the cordon who stopped the android that had followed Hank out of his car. I raised an eyebrow at Hank but he didn’t catch it as he turned around.

“It’s with me.”

The android made its way forward and stopped in front of us, holding Hank’s less-than-happy stare. I gave it a quick once over—typical CyberLife-looking uniform, though I was pretty sure I’d never heard of an RK800 model before.

“What part of ‘stay in the car’ didn’t you understand?”

“Your order contradicted my instructions, Lieutenant.”

I suppressed a snort at the android’s obviously-not- _meant-to-be_ -snarky reply that was, regardless, kinda snarky.

Hank sighed. “You don’t talk, you don’t touch anything, and you stay outta my way, got it?”

“Got it.” The android’s reply was almost immediate. It glanced at me but I turned away before it could say anything.

“Evening, Hank. We were starting to think you weren’t gonna show.” Ben made his way out of the house, tablet in hand, and walked over to us.

I fidgeted with some tissue in one of my pockets before taking my hands out and crossing my arms. My fingers drummed absent-mindedly against my rain-soaked jacket, restless energy suddenly bubbling through me.

“Yeah, that was the plan until this asshole found me.”

I smirked and gave the android a quick side glance, a bit impressed that it had somehow managed to get Hank to do anything. He was a stubborn bastard on the best of days, but to have an _android_ get him to do something? Praise for small miracles, I guessed.

“You stickin’ around, Ali?”

My attention turned back to Ben. I nodded, shoulders already tensing like they always did when I got to a scene. Weird tick, I figured, trying to avoid a trip to the chiropractor. “Yeah, may as well. I’m already wet.”

Ben let out a quick huff and Hank just crossed his arms.

“So… You got yourself an android, huh?” Ben turned away as he spoke, leading us into the house. I could hear the teasing in his voice.

Hank glanced at the android slightly behind me before he fell in step with me and Ben. “Oh, very funny. Just tell me what happened.”

I interrupted before Ben could continue. “Aw, come on Hank, I think it’s cute. It’s like a little puppy following you around.” He huffed and shot me a warning side glance. I just giggled.

I didn’t need to see Ben’s face to know he was rolling his eyes as he spoke over us. “We had a call around eight from the landlord. Tenant hadn’t paid his rent in a few months, so he thought he’d drop by, see what was going on.” I looked around the front yard as Ben talked, noting all the trash and general state of disrepair. “That’s when he found the body…”

The mailbox on the front door read “Carlos Ortiz.” Probably the victim. I stepped into the house in front of Hank and immediately brought one arm up over my nose. I coughed and regretted the decision as I felt the rancid air on my tongue.

“Jesus, that smell!”

I shook my head and squinted my eyes to try and lessen the sting. God, it smelled awful. I spread my hand over my nose and mouth in an attempt to create a makeshift gas mask to block out _something_. Maybe I should have just gone home…

“Was even worse before we opened the windows.”

“Fuck, it was _worse_?” My voice was muffled through my jacket sleeve, but I could still taste the rot through the fabric.

Ben turned to look at me and I swear a look of pity crossed his eyes as he took in my rather pitiful stance, eyes watering and dripping jacket covering half my face. “Yeah. Thank your stars you didn’t get here any earlier.”

All I could do was nod and try not to breathe too hard. I followed his gaze to the crime scene itself. There were empty beer cans and coffee cups littering the floor, garbage all over the place, and a lamp toppled over casting eerie shadows all over the room. The place was a shitshow. The walls were either covered with peeling wallpaper or just straight up falling off.

The body was horribly bloated and grey, and I could see flies buzzing all around it as I got closer. There were stab wounds covering most of the guy’s left torso, clearly not an accident. There was some dark writing on the wall above him, spelling out “I AM ALIVE” in even, capital letters. Shit…

I took as deep of a breath as I dared before slowly lowering my arm back to my side. I couldn’t walk around the whole night like that and I knew it, much as I wished I could.

“The victim’s name’s Carlos Ortiz. He has a record for theft and aggravated assault. According to the neighbors he was kind of a loner. Stayed inside most of the time, they hardly ever saw him.”

“Uh, state he’s in… Wasn’t worth calling everybody out in the middle of the night.” Hank nodded towards me and I gave him a small shove. “Could’ve waited ‘til morning.”

I snorted. “You just want this beauty of a crime scene all to yourself, Hank.”

The old man nudged me with his elbow. I tried to steady myself, but my heel caught on the lamp behind me and I lost my balance. A hand shot out and grabbed my upper arm in a steely grip before I fell.

“Jesus, kid, be careful.” I looked over at Hank. There was a hint of softness in his eyes as he looked over at me, one hand settling back into his crossed arms. I took that as an apology.

After a moment I looked down at the hand still holding my arm, and then followed it up to the android. It stared at me with brown eyes that looked so… big and innocent. Not what I would have expected from a police bot. I muttered a quick “thanks” before shrugging my arm out of its grasp and turning my attention back to Ben’s briefing.

“… when the coroner gets here. There’s a kitchen knife over here, probably the murder weapon.” I followed his wave to the knife in question, covered in blood next to a bright “2” sign.

Hank knelt next to the body to give it a closer inspection. “Any sign of a break-in?”

I let my gaze wander around the room, keeping an ear trained on the conversation.

“Nope. The landlord said the front door was locked from the inside, all the windows were boarded up. The killer must’ve gone out the back way.”

A cracked TV, some chairs, and what looked like a dirty mattress in the corner of the adjacent room. Another evidence sign on the TV stand caught my attention and I made my way over to it.

“What do we know about his android?”

“Not much. The neighbors confirmed he had one, but it wasn’t here when we arrived.”

I crouched down in front of the stand and crossed my arms.

“I gotta get some air.” I turned to Ben as he started to back out of the house. “Make yourselves at home. I’ll be outside if you need me.” I nodded as I caught his eye before he turned around to flee the stink.

My attention turned back to the evidence that had caught my eye. A small baggie filled with red crystals. Red Ice, no doubt.

“Hey, Hank.” I turned on the balls of my feet to look at him. He was standing over the body, inspecting the letters on the wall when he turned to me. I nodded back to the table behind me. “Red Ice.”

He rolled his eyes before turning away from me and I smirked. “Seems our friend Carlos liked to party, then.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. My knees cracked as I stood up and I winced before stretching my legs out. “Yeah, seems so.”

“Chris, I want full analysis on the narcotics.”

“Consider it done, Lieutenant.”

I rolled my shoulders and turned back to the room. The android was crouched over the kitchen knife, staring at the handle. I noticed its LED spinning yellow for a second before settling back to light blue. I made a mental note to remember to ask about that later.

And then it swiped two fingers across the blood on the blade and put them in its mouth.

Hank walked over at the perfect time, having had the pleasure of witnessing the same thing I did. “Ah, Jesus, what the hell are you doing?”

The android turned to us, the most unbothered look on its face. I tried not to look _too_ disgusted. “I’m analyzing the blood. I can check samples in real time.” I raised my eyebrow and shared an apprehensive look with Hank. It looked between the two of us before saying, “I’m sorry, I should have warned you.”

I shook my head and snorted, somehow finding the situation just a little funny. “No, by all means, just go ahead and put the whole crime scene in your mouth. Maybe you’ll find the killer in the process.” Hank let out a rough breath as he shoved me, notably not as hard as the last time.

The android just cocked its head at me, eyes squinted ever so slightly. “I’m afraid my mouth would not be able to fit that much evidence. We’ll have to examine the majority of the scene in other ways.”

I stared at it blankly for a second before bursting out laughing, which got a head shake and a muttered “fucking hell” from Hank. I slapped his shoulder as I tried to control my giggles. After a couple of seconds I just gave up, frantically waving a hand in front of my face as I walked away to compose myself.

The other officers in the room gave me sideways glances as I stumbled into the hallway between the living room and the kitchen. It took me a couple more seconds to quell the fit. I took a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. My cheeks hurt by the time I did, and I had to wipe a couple tears from my eyes. The stench wasn’t as bad over here, and when I looked to my right I noticed why.

The backdoor.

Curious, I opened the two doors and stepped onto the stoop. The air was chilly and the rain hadn’t stopped. I wrapped my arms around myself to try and stop the shivers I felt coming on. It was still better than that damned smell.

The android stepped up beside me and I jumped a bit. I hadn’t heard it come outside. Sneaky thing.

It looked down at me with a crooked smile that was way too human. “Hello. My name is Connor. I’m the android sent by CyberLife to help Lieutenant Anderson with the investigation.”

I nodded. Its voice was… nice. I knew CyberLife spent a lot of its money to make its androids as likeable as possible, which not only meant human-like, but also impossibly perfect and usually at least passably attractive. I looked back out into the yard. “Alison Grace. Though I’m sure you already knew that.”

“Yes.” The way it said that so matter-of-factly was… unnerving.

I glanced at it as it knelt down to look at the ground, but otherwise did my best to ignore it. I just wanted some fresh air to brace myself for the stink before I went back inside. The cold was starting to get to me.

Hank’s footsteps were much less quiet than the android’s, so I didn’t startle when he spoke up from the doorframe behind me. “Door was locked from the inside. Killer must’ve gone out this way.”

I nodded almost absent-mindedly.

“There are no footprints, apart from officer Collins’ size 10 shoes.”

My eyes darted over to look at the android. It was still staring out over the backyard, but it turned his gaze to me after a second.

“Well, this happened weeks ago. Tracks could’ve faded.”

The android—shit, what was its name again? I had already forgotten—broke our stare to look at Hank over my shoulder. I turned around to go back inside.

“No, this type of soil would’ve retained a trace. Nobody’s been out here for a long time.”

I froze, halfway through the doorway. The android moved around me as it headed back inside, and I looked back at Hank. He looked more confused than anything, but I felt a chill go up my spine that had nothing to do with the weather.

I suddenly had a really, really bad feeling. God, I should’ve just gone home.

Hank clapped a hand on my shoulder as he stepped up to go back inside. “You all right, kid? You’re white as a sheet.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and shook my head to try and get rid of my apprehensions. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good, just…” I glanced back outside. “Weird feeling. That’s all.” We shared another stare before I broke it to step back inside.

Hank joined me and closed the door behind us. He made his way back to the living room where the android was examining the evidence, but I turned to the kitchen. Toppled chairs and table, more garbage, and a bat on the floor near the fridge. I made my way to the counter on the right, trailing a hand over the surface. Dust and who knew what else covered my gloved fingers. I wiped them on my pants.

A magazine caught my eye and I picked it up. Gossips Weekly, a trashy tabloid-esque magazine. The cover was one of the bots from the Eden Club with big yellow letters proclaiming, “ANDROID SEX OFFICIALLY BETTER!” I snorted and rolled my eyes, moderately offended but mostly unbothered. Or trying to be.

“Excuse me.”

I tensed at the voice, a bit startled, and looked up. The android. Of course. “Jesus, dude, make your footsteps louder or something.”

It cocked its head at me for a second before straightening. “I will try to do that in the future.” My eyebrows furrowed as it just stood there, staring down at me. Then it motioned behind me. “I would like to get passed you.”

I looked behind me, confused for a second, before I remembered what it was here for. “Oh, shit, yeah. Sorry,” I mumbled, putting the magazine back on the counter and circling around the table to the bat. I gave the android a side glance as I crouched down. It was looking at the block of knives on the wall. I shook my head and turned my attention back to the evidence in front of me.

Nothing. There didn’t seem to be any traces of blood on the handle or the bat itself. Maybe they hadn’t gotten a hit in? Or just didn’t hit hard enough.

I was about to get up when the android knelt across from me. I would have left, but I was a bit curious so I just watched. It looked up at me after a couple seconds. “There are fingerprints on the handle of the bat. They match the victim.” It looked so unaffected by everything, which made me a bit uneasy. I followed its hand with my eyes as it motioned to the head of the bat. “A dent, caused by a violent impact, has traces of Thirium.”

I stared intently at the bat, trying to see the dent, and I think I did after a couple seconds of intense scrutiny. I didn’t see any traces of anything, though, much less anything blue. The android turned away from me as it stood up. I followed its lead, knowing I wouldn’t find anything more on the bat. Not that _I_ had found anything in the first place. Damn robots. I couldn’t tell if I was annoyed or jealous. Probably both.

I stepped around the android, eyes trailing around the walls and ceiling. God, what a dump.

It turned its head to follow me as I walked past it. “I was going to examine the body.”

I smirked, stepping to the side and motioning towards the living room with a grand wave. “Well, don’t let me stop you.”

The android cocked its head at me again, LED blinking yellow before settling back to blue. “I wouldn’t.” It walked past me then, moving its shoulder to avoid brushing against my arm as it fell back to my side.

Something about the way it said that made me… nervous. Uncomfortable. It was a little unsettling. I shook off the thoughts and followed it. It stopped at the door the living room, staring at the wall. I followed its gaze and noticed some dried blood on the wall. Huh.

It turned to me. “I’m going to analyze the blood.”

A couple of confused seconds passed before I got what it meant. “Uh, yeah. Sure, whatever, go ahead.”

I moved past it before I got another view of it putting stuff that really shouldn’t be going near someone’s mouth in its mouth. Ugh. What a night.

The victim’s “bedroom.” I looked around, noting the American flag hung over his dirty mattress, evermore trash, and an evidence sign on a table between the two windows. I made my way there.

A roll of paper towels, a dirty mug, a lamp, and some magazines and flyers. The purple one on top caught my eye. “Eden club. Come visit us.”

Seems Mr. Ortiz had a… type. I scoffed. I gave the room another quick glance. Blood on the floor, probably the victim’s. Nothing else caught my attention. The android spared me the slightest sideways glance as it made its way through the room to the body. My eyes followed it for a moment, but I wasn’t done looking around yet. There was still the other end of that hallway.

I stepped into the dark hall and looked to the left. The tiles were cracked and the ceiling made me nervous. I looked up and sent up a silent prayer hoping that it didn’t collapse. Then I made my way to the other end. Posters of sports stars and softcore porn on the wall above a dresser. A broken chair. Some storage shelves against the far wall. Nothing crazy.

Then I turned my head to look in bathroom. Nothing crazy, _yet_. The room itself was just like the rest of the house—full of trash and about to fall apart. But the shower curtain was open, and I could see words or letters scratched into the wall and some kind of statue on the floor. Christ.

I stepped into the bathroom, chills going up and down my back again. As I got closer, I could make out what was written: rA9. Over and over and over again. Small and big, horizontal, vertical, diagonal. The statue on the floor was almost… weirder. A wooden sculpture, roughly carved, of what looked like a person. It was surrounded by flowers and a small bowl.

I shook my head. “What the fuck…” One more quick glance around and then the feeling of unease started to creep up on me again. My steps were a bit quicker as I made my way back to the living room, back to other people.

My hands went back in my pockets as I stopped a couple paces behind Hank, who was standing near the body where the android was doing… well, whatever it did. He turned to look at me, eyebrow raised.

“Did you see the shit in the bathroom?”

Hank shook his head. “No, why?”

I hesitated a second, not sure where to start. “Fuckin’ weird. Stuff written on the wall in the shower, and some kind of carved statue surrounded by flowers and shit.”

The android stood up and turned to Hank, interrupting before we could continue our what-the-fuck fest. “He was stabbed 28 times.” It sounded almost shocked, or surprised, at the number. I’d seen worse.

Hank turned back to the android. He shook his head before he said, “Yeah, seems like the killer really had it in for him.”

We all looked back down at the body. “Or a raged-up junkie,” I said, nodding back at the Red Ice on the stand behind us, grateful for something else to think about.

“Not everything is a drug case, Grace.” Hank shook his head at me, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

I stuck my tongue out at him and winked. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the android looking between us with a confused look, LED circling yellow again. After a few seconds it cut into our silent conversation. “Lieutenant, I think I’ve figured out what happened.”

My attention turned back to the android, and so did Hank’s.

“Oh yeah? Shoot. I’m all ears.”

“It all started in the kitchen.” It didn’t wait for either of us to move or say anything before it made its way back there. Hank and I exchanged an eye roll before we followed it.

“Don’t be too pouty, Hank,” I whispered as we walked. “Its triangle matches your eyes.”

He bristled at the teasing and rolled his eyes again while I suppressed a small giggle. He took a few extra-large steps to get ahead of me and joined the android in the kitchen before I got to the hallway. “There are obvious signs of a struggle.” I crossed my arms again, stepping up behind the two. “The question is, what exactly happened here?”

“I think the victim attacked the android with the bat.” The android stepped off to the side of the kitchen, around the fallen chair.

I nodded, looking over the mess in the room. Another chill crawled up my spine as my mind worked to piece everything together. Something wasn’t right, something was bothering me. I just didn’t know what. I felt incredibly uneasy all of a sudden.

“That lines up with the evidence… Go on.”

“The android stabbed the victim.”

My eyes fell on the knife block that our android had been looking at a couple minutes earlier. A missing knife… the one in the living room.

“So the android was trying to defend itself, right?” I saw our android—goddamnit, what the hell was its name?—nod its head out of the corner of my eye. “Okay, then what happened?”

“The victim fled to the living room.” It made a motion to follow it as it stepped back to the other room.

I hovered a second, still trying to piece together my unease, before I followed Hank and the android.

“And he tried to get away from the android.” Hank sent me a glance over his shoulder, making sure I was behind him, as we got back to the living room. I gave him a quick smirk and he turned back to the android with a shake of his head. “All right, that makes sense.”

Hank admitting something an android said made sense? Maybe it was a good thing I hadn’t gone home after all. Never thought I’d see the day, and I certainly wouldn’t have believed anyone who told me it happened if I hadn’t heard it for myself.

The three of us stood over the body again. I glanced over at our android.

“The android murdered the victim with the knife.” I noticed its LED flash yellow for a second as it spoke.

Hank nodded. So did I. “OK, your theory’s not totally ridiculous,” he crossed his arms, probably a bit miffed that he couldn’t poke a hole in the android’s story, “but it doesn’t tell us where the android went.”

My blood ran cold for a second. Oh. That was what was bothering me. Right. I shivered. Shoved my hands back in my pockets. I felt fidgety all of a sudden.

“It was damaged by the bat and lost some Thirium.”

“Lost some what?”

I glanced at Hank, a bit surprised. I could’ve sworn he knew what Thirium was… Maybe not.

“Thirium,” the android repeated. I willed myself to join back into the conversation and shake off my goosebumps. “You call it ‘Blue Blood.’ It’s the fluid that powers androids’ biocomponents.”

“It’s also in Red Ice,” I interrupted.

Hank cast me a pained, I’m-so-done-with-you look. I gave him an innocent smile.

“Correct.” We both turned back to the nameless android. “It evaporates after a few hours and becomes invisible to the naked eye.”

“Oh…” Hank nodded.

I smirked and pointed at the android. “Hey, I bet you can still see it, though, can’t you?”

It looked at me. “Correct.”

I nodded and looked down at the body.

“Yeah…” Hank huffed and stepped away to give the android room to follow the invisible blood trail. What a night indeed.

Its LED flashed yellow for a fraction of a second before it started forward. Hank made his way to lean against one of the rotting walls in the living room, next to the TV. I opted to follow the android.

We walked to the hallway, then towards the bathroom. It stopped at the door and its gaze swept into the room, but then came back to settle on the curtain covering the shelves in front of it. My arms tensed and I settled one hand on my gun. Just in case.

I held my breath. Its hand hovered over the edge of the curtain for just a second before it pulled it open. My shoulder twitched.

A few brooms fell onto the floor. The android jumped out of the way and I let out a shaky breath. “Goddamnit,” I whispered under my breath. It looked over at me, almost looking a bit sheepish before straightening itself. It tightened its tie and I moved my hand away from my holster, trying to shake off my tension.

The android’s gaze left me and swept the floor. It stepped over the fallen brooms and towards the wall opposite the bathroom before crouching down. One hand rested on its chin as it looked back and forth. “A ladder was used.”

I almost jumped at the sound of its voice, having gotten so absorbed in the tense air. It stood again and faced the shelves. I followed its eyes as it looked up, and noticed the hatch to the attic.

This time, I was sure the blood really did drain from my face. Fuck. _It was still here_.

“The traces lead to the attic.”

I nodded. “Yeah.” As if I had known that.

It turned and brushed past me without sparing a second glance. My blood pumped through my veins and I could feel the adrenaline start to warm me up. My fingers twitched, wanting something to do.

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doin’ with that chair?”

Hank’s yelling made me turn around. The android was holding one of the chairs from the kitchen. It barely even glanced in Hank’s direction as it passed him and walked back towards me.

“I’m going to check something.”

My eye caught Hank’s before I moved out of the android’s way and followed it back to the end of the hallway. I heard Hank mutter something to himself behind me.

The android was already climbing up on the chair when I turned my attention back to it. I shot my hand out and grabbed its jacket.

“Hey, hold on! You’re not going up there by yourself.” It turned to look at me, half on the chair, one leg just hovering in mid air. “I’m coming with you.”

Yellow LED. Cocked head. It was almost cute at this point. Like an actual puppy. “The android may still be armed. It’s too dangerous for a human to confront it.”

I furrowed my brows. “Then you stand in front of me.”

It considered my words for a moment, yellow LED spinning, before it answered. “The presence of a human may trigger aggression in the android. The odds of you being injured in an ensuing fight are too high while your usefulness in such a situation is minimal.”

I let go of its jacket at the words. Ouch. Bit rude. My heartbeat pounded against my chest and I chewed on the inside of my lip. Considering.

Shit. He was right.

I shook my head. “Damn it, fine. Go.” I waved it off as I turned and made my way back to Hank. I heard it pull itself up into the attic as I did.

Hank gave me a once-over as I came to stand next to him. Brows furrowed, arms crossed, I’m sure I looked like a kid throwing a silent tantrum. He didn’t say anything.

I fumed silently while we stood there, looking down at my feet and shuffling around. I kicked at the broken tile, dislodging a couple rogue pieces. After a minute or two I heard Hank huff beside me.

He walked to the opening to the attic and shouted, “Connor, what the fuck is going on up there?”

Connor! That was its name.

There was a beat of silence. I felt a moment of panic, wondering if Connor had been subdued. I imagined a crazed, bloodied android dropping down through the opening in front of Hank and—

“It’s here, Lieutenant!”

My heart calmed at first, getting my imagination back under control. And then I fully realized the meaning of Connor’s words and my heart picked right back up.

“Holy shit…” Hank turned back to me and we shared a wide-eyed look. “Chris, Ben, get your asses in here now!”


	2. Bad Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 6TH, 2038  
> AM 12:24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I'm early!  
> I know the first chapter and now this one too is pretty much just exposition written between the game's dialogue, but this is the last chapter that's gonna follow that structure. I wanted to get into the flow of the story and didn't really wanna take away any character's dialogue, and trying to slip in extra lines without changing too much is difficult haha. That's also why I decided to post this today instead of tomorrow- just wanna get to the real meat of the story.
> 
> After this, I'm gonna be tweaking the scenes and chapters a bit to fit into where I'm trying to steer this. Plus, I’m not actually gonna throw Ali onto Hank’s case. We’re going a different route :)

I got back to the station with Chris, just a couple minutes ahead of Hank and the deviant and… shit, I’d already forgotten its name again. The RK-something android. Hank’s android? Whatever.

Reed was lounging at his desk when I walked up. Did we really need a _third_ detective on this? Ben had called in the whole damn cavalry. He tossed something in the air, feet propped up on his desk, looking as unbothered as ever.

“Hey, sunshine. You got the whole force waitin’ in here with you? Three detectives sure isn’t enough for one homicide.” I slid around the side of his deck and sat down on the edge, glancing around at the clearly-empty room.

Chris walked past us on his way to the observation room, and Reed sighed and pushed his feet off the desk. He gave me a cocky smirk as he pocketed whatever he’d been throwing. “Sunshine, huh? That’s a new one.” We both got up and shuffled away from our shared desk.

“Yeah, you hurt my eyes if I stare at you too long. That ugly mug could cause blindness, ya know?”

Hank snorted. I turned to see him and the two androids coming through the door to the precinct. I smiled and we shared a nod. Reed scoffed and walked off but I ignored him, waiting for Hank to catch up.

“You really should just get a better car. I’d stop beating you everywhere.” We fell into step together, the android on his other side keeping pace, one hand firmly holding the deviant’s arm. He scoffed but didn’t deign me with a response. That meant I won. At least that’s how I counted it.

We walked to the interrogation room in silence. I patted him on the shoulder as we got to the observation door. “Good luck cracking this one,” I whispered as his android walked the deviant passed us.

I smirked, and Hank rolled his eyes but didn’t shrug me off. I let my hand fall after a second and followed Chris into the room. Hank made his way to the interrogation room after the android and the deviant.

Reed was leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, staring hatefully through the two-way mirror. He didn’t look up as I walked into the room. I smiled down at Chris as I circled his chair.

“Ready to go home yet, Chris?”

He chuckled. “If only.”

I grabbed the back of the chair next to him and wheeled it around. My exhaustion hit me as soon as I sat down. God, I needed some coffee.

“Well, that didn’t take too long,” I mumbled to myself. “Hey, sunshine.” Reed didn’t even flinch. I rolled my eyes. “Whatever… Chris.”

“Yeah?”

“Want some coffee? I didn’t realize how fuckin’ tired I was.”

He grinned and nodded. “Yeah, sure. You know how I take it?”

I laughed as I stood up. “Course I do. I know how everyone takes it.” He rolled his eyes at my wink. I started to leave the room, but the door opened before I touched the panel. Our android stopped mid-step, and then moved to the side to let me pass. I just sent it a quick smile and took a couple steps. Then I turned back. “Hey.”

It turned to look at me.

“Androids don’t drink coffee, right?”

I heard Reed scoff in the observation room. The android had its typical “processing” look—head cocked to the side, LED spinning yellow. It straightened after a second and said, “No, androids cannot eat or drink.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Right.” I ignored Chris through the door, shaking his head, shoulders shaking in silent laughter, as I turned and left the room.

The breakroom was… meh. Not quite pitiful, but nothing to write home about either. I made my way to the coffee machine and got a few cups started. God, my neck was killing me. I rolled my shoulders and tried to massage away the kinks with the palm of my hand.

I couldn’t wait to get home.

Three coffees in hand—Reed could go fuck himself, but I knew Hank would appreciate it—I made my way back to the observation room.

“Shit.” Standing in front of the door, a cup of hot liquid in each hand and one balanced between an arm and my chest, I wasn’t sure how to open it. I tried to shove another cup from my hand to my balancing act, but gave up after almost spilling both of them. This was the night of ruining my clothes, wasn’t it? “Damnit.”

I looked around, trying to think of something. My shoulders slumped. The place was empty. Turning back to the door, I figured I may as well knock. With… not my hands. Not spilling anymore of this shit on myself. I kicked the door a couple times and waited.

After a couple seconds, the door slid open to a confused looking android. God, I could _not_ keep his name in my head for the life of me. “Thanks,” I muttered, slipping past it into the room. “Chris, grab one of these for me, will ya?”

“Oh, shit, yeah, sorry.” He jumped up and grabbed a cup from my outstretched hand.

I grinned. “Good choice. That one’s yours.” The other two went on the table, thankfully with no more spills.

“Thanks, Ali.” I nodded at him, a quick “no worries” and a smile as I sat back down.

“Yeah, thanks, Grace.”

I swatted Reed’s hand away from the second cup in front of me. “Fuck off, Reed. You didn’t answer me when I tried to ask you if you wanted one. This is Hank’s.” I pushed the second cup further across the table away from him, propping my feet up on the table in front of it to punctuate my point. He was half-scowling half-smirking when I looked up at him.

He was about to say something before he apparently decided against it. Instead, he rolled his eyes, muttered “fuck you Grace,” and went back to leaning against the wall.

My attention focused around to the interrogation room. Hank sat across from the deviant with its head down, mostly unmoving, and tried to get something out of it. It didn’t take too many unanswered questions before I lost interest. At first I tried examining the rest of my coffee, swirling it around in the cup as I quickly finished it off, but soon it was empty so I put it down and glanced back to Hank.

“Why’d you kill him?”

Nothing. The deviant didn’t even acknowledge that Hank was in the room. Maybe it was spaced out? Could androids do that? Maybe I’d ask… its name started with a K, right? Maybe I’d ask the K android.

I stretched out, leaning back in the chair, and linked my hands behind my neck. My head lolled back and I stared at the ceiling for a couple seconds before darting my eyes over to Reed. Still just leaning on the wall, arms crossed, asshole-ish as ever. I moved my head back a bit to look at the android behind me. It was just standing there, staring at the interrogation in the other room. Fidgeting with a coin in one hand.

After a couple seconds, it tilted its head ever so slightly and then its eyes flickered down to meet mine. Feeling like I’d been caught staring at a stranger in a crowded room, I sat back up and away from its gaze. It was probably looking in at the interrogation again, but I still felt a shiver crawl up my spine like it was staring at my back. I tried to clear my head by focusing back on Hank.

“Why didn’t you even try to run away?” The deviant just kept on staring at its hands, or the cuffs, or whatever. Hank snapped his fingers under its gaze, and it didn’t even flinch. I absent-mindedly wondered if you could spook an android enough to make it jump.

Hank looked over to us, a look of complete exasperation on his face, before he slammed his hands down on the table. “Say something, goddamnit!”

Not. A. Peep.

He shook his head and sighed. I could probably head home at this point. I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to get anything out of it, and this wasn’t even my investigation.

“Fuck it, I’m outta here.”

The deviant didn’t look up as Hank left the room. I chewed on my bottom lip, swearing under my breath when I accidentally tore off a piece of skin that left my lip feeling raw.

The ‘ding’ of the door’s panel recognizing entry and its opening ‘whoosh’ pulled me out of myself.

“We’re wasting our time interrogating a machine, we’re gettin’ nothing out of it!” Hank roughly pulled out the chair next to me and fell into it with a sigh. I dropped my feet off the table and pushed the coffee towards him. He grabbed it with a thankful nod.

“Could always try roughin’ it up a little.” I looked back at Reed, eyebrow raised. “After all, it’s not human.”

“Jesus Christ, Reed…”

“Androids don’t feel pain. You would only damage it, and that wouldn’t make it talk.” I still felt a bit too embarrassed at having been caught staring to turn to look at the android. Instead, I just stared at the deviant through the glass. “Deviants also have a tendency to self-destruct when they’re in stressful situations.”

“Okay, smartass.” Godamnit, Reed, just shut up for like, a minute. “What should we do then?”

There was a pause. I turned my chair around, shooting Hank a quick eye roll and grin, and faced the android again.

“I could try questioning it.” It looked back and forth between Hank and me, wide-eyed and innocent looking. You’d think they would’ve tried to make their fancy cop android look more intimidating and less like a sweet little puppy.

Reed burst out laughing, because of course he did. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes for what felt the millionth time tonight. Hank threw up his hands, still facing the glass, and sighed.

“What do we have to lose?”

“Well, I mean, technically speaking—” Hank cut me off with a sideways glare. I raised an eyebrow and looked away, a small grin threatening to bubble into another laughing fit. I pushed it down.

“Go ahead,” he turned to glance back at the android, “suspect’s all yours.”

I watched the android pause for a second before making its way into the interrogation room. Maybe I’d stick around, just for a couple more minutes. I’d never seen an android interrogate another android, much less a deviant. Could be interesting.

I swung my chair back around and rested my elbows on the table, pushing my empty cup around, my chin propped up in my other hand. The android whose name I’d now forgotten for the second time came into the room. It slowly walked up to the corner of the table and pulled the evidence file open. Looked through the pictures, closed it, and sat down.

Its LED faced towards us, so I could see it flicker yellow as it looked over the deviant for a second. “I detect an instability in your program. It can trigger an unpleasant feeling, like fear in humans.”

The deviant didn’t react. I thought it might have twitched a bit, but it was probably just my imagination. Our android pulled the evidence file over and casually flipped it open before refolding its hands together.

“You recognize him? It’s Carlos Ortiz. Stabbed, 28 times.”

My attention started to wander again. I craned my neck either which way and sighed. My eyes fell to the cup in front of me again.

“You’ve refused to talk since they arrested you. If you don’t cooperate they’ll do things the hard way. Is that what you want?”

Silence. My fingers drummed on the table.

“You don’t seem to understand the situation. You killed a human. They’ll tear you apart if you don’t say something.”

I glanced over at Chris. He met my eyes and I mimed falling asleep. He rolled his eyes but laughed.

“If you won’t talk, I’m going to have to probe your memory.”

“NO!” My attention snapped back to the interrogation room. “No, please don’t do that…”

What the hell had the android said to him, again? I’d have to remember it. Something about its memory? I scoffed at the irony.

“What…” The deviant glanced at the two-way mirror between us. “What are they gonna do to me?” It looked back at our android, which had his head cocked to the side and was giving the deviant a hard stare. “They’re gonna destroy me aren’t they?”

“They’re going to disassemble you to look for problems in your biocomponents.” Damn. I didn’t expect the android to go the threatening route. “They have no choice if they want to understand what happened.”

“Why did you tell them you found me? Why couldn’t you just have left me there?”

“I was programmed to hunt deviants like you. I just accomplished my mission.”

I sat back in my chair, a bit impressed. Damn, this android could convince Hank to show up to a crime scene _and_ get silent robots to talk? Shit. Maybe I’d ask for one to be my partner. It'd be a hell of a lot better than sunshine in the corner.

“I don’t wanna die.”

That caught me by surprise.

Our android’s face visibly softened and he leaned forward as he said, “Then talk to me.”

“I…” I leaned forward again, eyes a bit wide, wondering if that was really all it took. “I can’t.”

“For fuck’s sake.” I threw my hands up at the glass and slumped back into my chair, arms crossed.

Hank looked over at me and shook his head. “Don’t pout too hard there, Grace. You’ll get wrinkles.”

I chuckled and pouted harder. “What makes you think that isn’t the whole point?” He snorted.

The android detective opened its hands towards the deviant, looking entirely too human. “I understand how you felt. You were overcome by anger, and frustration.” Damn, this android interrogation was taking some interesting turns. “No one can blame you for what happened.”

Reed scoffed. “Bullshit.” I grabbed my cup and half-heartedly threw it at him. It bounced off his arm and landed on the floor by his feet with a soft ‘plop.’ He lifted his hands in a questioning motion as he looked over at me. “What the fuck, Grace?”

I wiggled my finger at him teasingly. “All I’m missing for this to be perfect is popcorn. Shut the fuck up and don’t ruin it for me, yeah?” He cocked his head to the side, a smirk plastered on his face. I scrunched my face at him before turning back to the other room. Hank nudged me and mimicked Reed’s “what the fuck” when I caught his eye. I did my best to hide my smile.

“Okay, then don’t talk.” The android leaned back in its chair, arms splayed wide. “What do I care, after all? I mean, I’m not the one accused of murder, right?”

The tension in the air made me hold my breath. I felt like we were so close, just a little nudge…

“Confess and I’ll protect you.” He leaned forward, clasping his hands together in front of the deviant and giving it an honestly-convincing look of sincerity. “I promise, I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Damn. I made a mental note never to trust anything an android said to me.

And then the deviant talked. “He tortured me every day…” Our android glanced at the window and I swear it could see through the mirror. Wouldn’t be the craziest thing they could do, to be honest. “I did whatever he told me, but… there was always something wrong.”

“Well I’ll be damned.” Hank let out a huff. “The plastic bastard did it.”

“Then one day… He took a bat and started hitting me…” My brows furrowed and I looked down at my hands on the table as it talked. “For the first time, I felt… scared.” Suddenly my chest felt weird and I didn’t find this fun anymore. “Scared he might destroy me, scared I might die. So I… grabbed the knife and I stabbed him in the stomach. I felt better. So I stabbed him again, and again, until he collapsed…”

I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath. I willed my heart to calm down a bit as it hammered away in my chest. Hank glanced at me before he grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. I looked over at him and smiled, but it didn’t quite reach my eyes. “Thanks,” I mouthed. He nodded and let his hand fall away.

“There was blood everywhere…”

“Why did you write ‘I AM ALIVE’ on the wall?”

“He used to tell me I was nothing, that I was just a piece of plastic.” My elbows rested on the table again, hands threaded together in front of my face. I willed myself to overlook the all-too-familiar story the deviant was telling. “I had to write it. To tell him he was wrong.”

My heart ached for the deviant, in a way. I’d heard every sob story in the book, why was this one getting to me so much? I had to remind myself that it was just a machine, it wasn’t really alive, and that it had _killed_ someone.

“The sculpture, in the bathroom, you made it, right? What does it represent?”

“It’s an offering… An offering so I’ll be saved.”

“An offering to whom?”

“To rA9. Only rA9 can save us.”

I cocked my head to the side. rA9, rA9… I had heard that before. I swear I had, but where?

“rA9 was written on the bathroom wall.” Shit, right, the shower! Obsessively, all over the three walls. “What does it mean?”

“The day shall come when we will no longer be slaves… No more threats, no more humiliation…” A shiver shook my shoulders. “We… will… be… the masters.”

There was a pause, and it felt like we all collectively took a breath to try and ease the tension.

“Who is rA9?” This time, the deviant didn’t answer. It just stared at its hands and shook its head. “Why did you hide in the attic, instead of running away?”

“I didn’t know what to do. For the first time, there was no one there to tell me, s-s… I was scared. So I hid.”

The air in the observation room felt thick, somehow. Like if I tried to speak it would rush into my lungs and suffocate me. I couldn’t even see the others anymore, my entire attention focused solely on the android and the deviant.

“When did you start feeling emotion?”

“Before, he used to beat me and I never said anything…” A sharp intake of breath, and then a shaky exhale. God, I needed to get a grip. “But one day I realized it wasn’t…” It paused. “… fair. I felt… anger… hatred! And then I knew what I had to do.”

I chewed on my thumb. My back and shoulders were so tense they ached.

The android leaned back and looked over at the glass. “I’m done.” It pushed away from the table and stood up.

After a couple seconds I realized that the others were talking and heading out of the room. I shook myself out of my daze and got up, still not really hearing them. But I followed into the interrogation room just the same. Reed and Chris went in first, while Hank hovered by my side.

“Chris, lock it up.”

I met the android’s gaze as I stepped up to the room. It cocked its head and gave me a quick once over that made me uneasy. I tried not to look at it as I moved over to stand next to Hank.

“All right, let’s go.” Chris moved to grab the deviant to go back to the cells, but it jumped away from his touch.

“Leave me alone! Don’t touch me.”

“The fuck are you doing? Move it!”

“You shouldn’t touch it. It’ll self-destruct if it feels threatened.”

I glanced over at the android. Kurtis? No, that wasn’t right. Maybe it was a C, not a K?

“Stay outta this, got it? No fuckin’ android is gonna tell me what to do.”

Chris was still struggling with the deviant, trying to pull it out of the chair while it resisted. It wasn’t Chris, was it? No, no, I would’ve remembered that.

“You don’t understand. If it self-destructs we won’t get anything out of it!”

“I told you to shut your fuckin’ mouth!” Collin? No, that wasn’t it either. “Chris, gonna move this asshole or what?”

“I’m trying!”

Hank stood next to me, arms crossed. Then the android was moving over to the other side of the table. “I can’t let you do that! Leave it alone, now!” It pushed Chris out of the way and stood between him and the deviant.

I felt the tension before Reed moved, and all I could think was, _Fuck, this isn’t good._

He pulled his gun out of its holster and pointed it at the android’s head. For fuck’s sake. “I warned you, motherfucker!”

“Seriously, Reed?”

“That’s enough!”

Reed turned to us, gun still pointed at the android. “Mind your own business, Hank.” He spared me a sideways glare but focused his annoyance on Hank.

“I said, that’s enough.” Hank pulled his own gun out, and I just about threw my hands up in frustration. Fucking boys.

“You guys are like fuckin’ school kids, Christ.”

Reed stared between the android and Hank, hesitating just a second, and then put his gun down. “Fuck…” He stepped back, scowl prominent on his face. He turned back to Hank, also putting his gun away, and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You’re not gonna get away with it this time.” He glanced back at the android before storming out with a final “fuck.”

“Class act, Reed!” I called after him. I didn’t know if he had heard me or not.

The android turned around to face the deviant, now huddled on the floor in the corner, and slowly crouched down. “It’s all right.” He held out his hands in front of him, clearly trying to calm the deviant. “Everything’s over. Nobody is gonna hurt you.” The deviant seemed to calm a bit, so the android stood and turned to Chris. “Please, don’t touch it. Let it follow you out of the room and it won’t cause any trouble.”

As if on cue, the deviant slowly stood and looked to Chris. He seemed unsure, shooting me a questioning glance. I just shrugged, not sure what else to do or say. After a second, he turned and walked out of the room, checking over his shoulder to make sure the deviant followed. It did.

It slowed slightly as it passed our android, and I swear it mumbled something to him, but I didn’t catch it. Our android turned to watch it leave, and the three of us stood in the interrogation room in silence after the door closed.

Suddenly it hit me. “Connor!”

He turned to me with its wide eyes. “Yes?”


	3. Ravioli

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 6TH, 2038  
> AM 03:13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I'm on time today :) I know this is super short, but I needed an interlude to transition into the mess we’re about to jump into lol
> 
> Let me officially (though briefly) introduce you to Alison Grace, DPD Detective. She’s, ah. Well, she’s something. You’ll see.
> 
> A lot of this fic (and any subsequent sequels/prequels, I already have so many ideas!) is basically me experimenting with different characters, situations, relationships, dynamics, etc. Like, if you take a second to think about the logistics of a relationship between a human and an android… shit gets complicated REAL quick. I wanna explore stuff like that 😊

I almost fell asleep on the elevator ride back up to my apartment, but the ‘ding’ when I got to my floor shook me out of it. I didn’t even wanna know what time it was. God, work in the morning was gonna suck.

My yawn interrupted the quiet in the hallway as I made my way to my door. Tired tears stung my eyes and I did my best to blink them away. I rubbed my eye with the heel of my palm as I made my way down the hallway, shuffling like a zombie the whole way.

The lock screen made a soft ‘ping’ as it recognized my key card, door unlocking. I could already hear Kida scratching and whining on the other side.

“Sit, girl,” I mumbled as I opened the door, shoving my foot through first to keep her from bounding into the hallway. I was pretty sure nobody would hear her since I barely ever heard anything from the hallway when I was home, but I also really wasn’t in the mood to placate anyone that she might wake up. Better safe than sorry.

The door automatically locked behind me and I slumped against it for a second. Kida sniffed at my jacket and pants, curious at the countless new smells I was probably carrying in with me. I gave her a couple scratches behind the ear before taking a resigned breath and pushing forward into my apartment.

Most of the lights were off, but Violet had left the entryway light on for me as we usually did whenever we knew someone would be out late. I kicked my boots off into the closet, tossing my jacket on the bench against the other wall, and switched off the light as I made my way to the kitchen, Kida right at my heels.

Using the light from the fridge to make my way to the living room, I did my best not to make any noise or knock anything over in the dark. The couch felt like heaven after spending all night in a musty, decrepit, death-filled house. Kida jumped up, all tail wags and face licks, and I let out a soft ‘oof’ when she settled on my chest.

“Okay, girl, yeah, hi.” I did my best to avoid most of the affection, quiet giggles echoing in the room as I wrestled her to my side. “Okay, okay, I love you too.” She looked up at me with wide brown eyes, a soft whine and sniffle escaping her obviously begging face. She settled as I held my arm out to pet her, curling up half next to me, half on me. “Guess I’m sleeping here, then.” I sighed. “Great.”

And for a minute or two, I resigned myself to doing just that. Eyes closed, splayed out as comfortably as I could be. And then my stomach rumbled.

Right. I hadn’t eaten for… Fuck, almost 14 hours. Damnit.

I reluctantly opened my eyes and glanced down at Kida, already fast asleep. I did my best to avoid bothering her, but she woke up as soon as I shifted, sending me the most are-you-kidding-me look I’d ever seen from a dog. I put a hand over my mouth to muffle my laugh just in case my other roommate, Chase, was in their loft, and sat up stretching my arms and neck. Was probably a good thing I didn’t sleep on the couch, actually.

There was still some leftover ravioli in the fridge, so I pushed myself up off the couch and tried to rub the tired out of my eyes again. It didn’t work too well, but I made my way to the fridge anyways.

My eyes had adjusted to the darkness by then, so I didn’t have too much trouble avoiding a collision with anything. Kida resettled herself on the couch, happy for the warm spot I left, and laid her head down with a small but dramatic sigh.

I was mostly on autopilot as I grabbed the leftovers from the fridge, transferred what was probably way more than one serving into a large bowl, and then popped it in the microwave to heat. May as well get changed while it was warming up, I figured, so I left the food spinning to head to my room.

Down the hallway, first door on the right. I did my best to be as quiet as possible, knowing how light of a sleeper Violet was, but I could also hear her music playing softly through her door. I closed mine behind me just in case.

Clothes tossed into the hamper, I resigned to _maybe_ take a shower in the morning before I left. Or maybe I’d just go to work with whatever crime-scene smell still clung to me. It’d probably keep people from bugging me too much.

My Detroit Mercy shirt was still on my bed from the night before, and I figured it was clean enough. Technically _I_ wasn’t clean, so why ruin a perfectly good shirt when I could just re-wear last nights’? I pulled it over my head and headed back to the kitchen. The microwave beeped as I got back to the open-plan kitchen/dining/living room.

I grabbed my tablet from the counter along with a fork on my way back to the couch to plop down next to Kida. She barely stirred as I did, only moving to poke her nose on my thigh before going back to her doggy dreams. I gave her a quick pat before turning my attention to food and cheap entertainment.

I let whatever channel I’d last watched play, volume turned down so low I could barely hear it anyway. Some trashy TV reality show. Perfect for whatever-time-of-the-morning it was with half my brain already fast asleep. What was left of my conscious mind wandered as I ate and stared at the screen, not really taking in what was going on.

I’d already done some of the paperwork I needed for Hank’s homicide case, and that usually gave me closure enough to stop dwelling on whatever it was that had bothered me in my cases. There was always something, even if it was just “someone was horrifically murdered.” You know, just that. No biggie.

But this one… that android, the way it talked… I couldn’t shake it. Some of its words just kept echoing in my head, morphing into a more familiar voice the more they did. I thought back to my days in high school, all the chaos and bullshit in my life. It was honestly a miracle I’d never killed anyone. Was it so different for the android?

And then I thought about my time at university, my dreams of working on androids like him one day… If things had turned out differently, I probably would’ve ended up at CyberLife. Would I feel any differently about androids if I did, I wondered? I’d never even really given them too much thought, after I’d switched gears to join the police academy instead…

Kida kicked out, interrupting my thoughts and smacking me in the arm and… for fuck’s sake. Making me drop the forkful of ravioli I had been holding onto the ground. I looked over at her, but she was just running in her dreams. I couldn’t get mad at her for that. She was too cute.

Sighing, I picked up my fork and did my best to scrape the dropped food into the mostly-empty bowl. I just wanted to go to sleep, at this point. Enough of this spilling-everything-all-over-the-place night.

I dropped the bowl in the sink, resigned to deal with it in the morning. Or after work. Whenever.

“Kida, com’ere,” I called out softly, hoping she’d join me and cuddle up to sleep. I peeked over the couch to see her still just kicking away, tongue lolled out the side of her mouth, clearly in the middle of a great dream chasing rabbits or something. I smiled and decided to leave her to it. I’d just leave my door open a crack for when she woke up later. She’d end up scratching at it anyway if I didn’t.

I leaned over her to turn off the trash TV on my tablet. Much as I tried not to look, my eyes wandered up to the time before I stepped away. I swore under my breath. 3:47 AM.

There would be so much coffee in the morning. So, so much coffee.


	4. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 6TH, 2038  
> AM 08:00

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look. I know Carl and Markus’ situation isn’t really gonna be the highest priority thing on Hank’s radar when Kara either killed or “assaulted” Todd, but them not going to talk to Carl/his son period seems like such a wasted opportunity to me. Would’ve been kind of cool in my opinion if when Hank didn’t get a lead on them, him and Connor would go investigate what happened with Markus instead.
> 
> There could’ve been so much more intertwining of everyone’s stories and I think it’s a real shame they only came together at the end.

My alarm sounded like a blaring siren. God, my head hurt.

I rolled over to a face full of fluff. Kida hopped up as soon as she realized that I was awake and pranced around the bed, excitedly trying to jump on me and say hello.

“Kida, girl, calm down,” I mumbled, trying to fend her off and flailing wildly to turn off the alarm. After a couple seconds of aimless floundering I managed to find my tablet and turn it off. I collapsed back onto my pillow for a second, hoping for that magical extra few minutes of sleep.

Kida wiggled her way under my arm, though, and stuck her nose right in my face and whined. I opened one eye to look at her, big brown puppy dog eyes staring at me as she huffed.

“All right, all right.” I rolled onto my back. “I’m gettin’ up.”

She let out a couple of quick yaps and jumped off the bed, tail wagging like crazy, and paced the room. Her claws click-clacked on the wood floor as she sniffed around, waiting for me to follow her lead. I stared at the ceiling in resignation for a couple seconds and then pushed myself up and out of bed in one motion. Rip the bandage off and all that.

Kida scampered off into the hallway, either hoping I’d follow her or hearing something worth investigating. Quick shower, rinse off whatever still clung to me from the night before, let Kida out real quick, and then work. I could get fancy coffee from a shop on the way in.

A solid plan in mind, I made my way to the bathroom to start. I didn’t bother washing my hair, opting to throw in some dry shampoo and just get it out of my face instead. Teeth, deodorant, face wash, contacts, all in record time. I glanced at the time while I got dressed. 8:13 AM.

I’d be a bit late but I didn’t have anything pressing to do so it was fine. I had some last bits of paperwork to finish for Hank’s case before I jumped off it, but he probably wouldn’t be in until I was done anyway. No rush there.

I made my way to the kitchen, no Kida in sight. She must have found something interesting to not have come looking for me. As soon as I stepped out of the hallway I could smell someone cooking something, and that was my answer. She was probably begging.

“Mornin’ sleepy,” Violet called from the stove, glancing over her shoulder as I walked up.

“Hey, morning.” I chuckled at Kida, sitting stock-still next to Violet, watching her every move. Her ear twitched every couple seconds. “I’m gonna be heading out soon. Think that’ll be ready by the time I get back from letting Kida out?”

“Yeah, probably. If not the eggs definitely will, you can grab some of those and mix ‘em with whatever to make a medley or something.”

I nodded, walking over to grab Kida. “Sounds good.” She looked up at me with a whine when I started to pull her away from the perfect spot to catch any falling delicacies. I smiled and shook my head. “No, Kida. Not for you.” I yawned into my arm mid-sentence, which got a quick laugh from Violet which I ignored. “I’ll feed you when we get back.”

“I’ll save a piece of bacon for her.” She winked at me as I dragged Kida away and I just shook my head.

“Don’t encourage her!”

I grabbed Kida’s leash, shoved my boot and jacket on, and headed out. The walk was uneventful. Kida unsuccessfully chased a couple birds, pulled me around the block, and then stopped to do her business on the curb. I checked the time on the elevator ride back up. 8:32 AM. Probably get in around 9, which was decent time.

Kida ran into the apartment as soon as I unhooked her. I didn’t bother taking off my boots or coat. I was just feeding her, grabbing whatever food was ready for me, and then heading back out.

Violet was sitting at the island when I got in, a plate in front of her and a container next to that, reading something on her tablet. She looked up and smiled. “It’s ready for ya.”

“You’re literally the best. You have no idea how tired I am.” As if to prove my point, another yawn interrupted me.

She laughed and turned back to her tablet. “You work too hard.”

I ignored her, following Kida to her food and getting her set up. Her tail wagged happily as I pet her and she chowed down.

“Hey, where’s Chase been? Haven’t seen them in a day or two.”

Violet didn’t look up when she answered. “Oh, they’re sleeping right now. I think they had some huge group project to finish up. Got in, like, an hour ago.”

“Jesus.” I glanced at the loft overlooking the open-space living area. Chase had grabbed it since they were apparently dead to the world when they were asleep, so we wouldn’t bother them if we were up and about. I thanked my lucky stars that I’d at least managed to get a couple hours of sleep unlike them.

“Want me to bring Kida to the park this afternoon? I’m free all day.”

I looked up at Violet, having gotten caught up in my thoughts. “Oh. Yeah, that would be awesome. Thanks.” She nodded, still absorbed in whatever she was doing. I grabbed the food she’d prepped for me, gave her a quick sideways hug, and made my way to leave. “See ya tonight.”

“Yeah, for sure.” She gave me a quick nod before going back to her tablet. I’d have to ask her what she was looking at. Wasn’t usually so absorbed in stuff like that.

I grabbed my bag by the door and shoved the food in the main pocket. “Get a coffee, you look like you’re still sleeping!” Violet called after me as I opened the door. I chuckled but didn’t answer her.

It was a 20-minute drive into the precinct, and my coffee stop added about 5 minutes. I walked in the door just after 9 AM.

Pretty much everyone except for Ben and Hank seemed to be in already. I fell into my chair and dropped my bag under the desk, happy to be able to just sit down for a bit. Reed wasn’t at his desk, which I couldn’t have been more thankful for. I usually enjoyed our sniping banter, but I was way too tired to come up with anything good and I did not like letting him win.

I dove into paperwork for a while, just wanting to get it done. My fancy coffee was gone within 15 minutes, but I also didn’t wanna get up to get more. Besides, our breakroom coffee was… not the best. I’d need a little breather before switching from good coffee to that stuff.

After another 30 minutes I leaned back in my chair, finally done. I glanced across the room, and still no Hank. I knew I’d be done before he got in.

Reed was still MIA, in the breakroom I was pretty sure—another reason to avoid more coffee. I whirled my chair around to Sarah Lee’s desk. She’d been talking with a witness, something to do with an android assault the night before.

“Hey, Sarah Lee.”

She looked up from the paperwork _she_ was doing. “Oh, hey Ali. How’s it going?”

“Oh, you know, as well as it could be when I’m running on about 4 hours of sleep.”

She winced and shook her head in sympathy, turning her chair more towards me. “Yeesh, that’s rough. You got enough coffee to keep you working today?”

I smiled and shifted to cross my legs. “Yeah, I got some on the way in. Just trying to brace myself before I go grab some of ours.”

“That’s probably a good plan. That stuff’s not meant to be consumed alongside real coffee.”

We both laughed and the conversation paused for a second. I glanced up at the monitor in the Captain’s office. As nice as it was to have gotten a chance to sit around as soon as I got in, I didn’t think I’d make it through the day if I didn’t have something interesting to do.

“You got any tips for me? I’m runnin’ a bit dry and really don’t wanna get thrown on Reed’s breadcrumbs.”

She laughed and shook her head, fully turning her chair to face me now. “Well, an AX400 assaulted some guy last night.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I heard about that. Pretty sure it's getting tossed to Hank, though. Anything else?”

“Well…” She glanced down at the papers on her desk, contemplating something. I waited. “I don’t think it’s anything, but Mara responded to a call about a possible break in last night. Said she found the owner of the house hunched over his kid’s body, and his android standing over to the side.”

I cocked my head. “Oh? Did the android attack the kid?” How had I not heard about this?

Sarah Lee shook her head. “Apparently the guy had gotten into a fight with his dad and it got out of hand.” She paused. “At least, that’s what Mara said they told her.” The way she said that made me think she didn’t really believe that.

“So, what, you think the android hurt the guy but the dad lied about it? Why?”

She shrugged. “Dunno. But I’m telling you, something wasn’t right about that whole thing. The guy yelled the android’s name when Mara got there, 'pparently, so she, you know…” She trailed off and her eyes fell, avoiding my gaze.

It took me a couple seconds, but I caught her meaning. I chewed on my cheek, contemplating, and then nodded. “Yeah. That might do it.”

“What?”

I shook my head and smiled, then got up. Needed more coffee now. “Nothing. Just interesting. I might look into it. Can you send me the details?”

She nodded and turned her chair back to her desk. “Yeah, for sure. Glad I could help you find something to do that didn’t involve Reed.”

I snorted. “It’s honestly really appreciated.” I winked at her as I made my way to the breakroom. Speaking of Reed…

He was hunched over one of the tables in the breakroom with Tina, another officer. I did my best to ignore him, instead heading over to the coffee machine and getting a cup. It only took a couple seconds to fill, so I stepped to the side to stir in way too much sugar and cream. It was the only thing that made it bearable to drink.

“Fuck, look at that…” God, Reed, please be talking to someone else. “Our friend the plastic detective is back in town!” It took me a couple seconds to process before I realized who he was talking about. “Congratulations on last night, very impressive!”

I turned to look and, lo and behold, Connor was standing in the breakroom to my left, eyes on me. Almost as soon as I’d met his eye, though, he moved to face Reed.

“Hello, Detective Reed.” A curt nod as it spoke, all prim and proper.

Reed pushed away from the table, and I could see the bullshit thoughts forming in his head. I sighed, and turned to face them, hip leaning on the counter and coffee in hand. “Reed, for the love of god, it’s way too early in the morning for this shit.”

He gave me a sideways glance and paused. Drummed his fingers on the table and actually seemed like he might back off for a second. But, of course, he didn’t. He sauntered up to the android with a smarmy smirk on his face.

“Never seen an android like you before.” He gave Connor a critical once over as he spoke. “What model are you?”

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my caffeine source. Couldn’t really call it coffee, truth be told. God, it was _still_ bitter.

Connor tilted his head to the side when he answered. “RK800. I’m a prototype.”

“A prototype?” Reed faked an impressed smile, eyebrows raised, and then turned to the other officer. He pointed at Connor with a bemused look and said, “Android detective.”

“Jesus Christ.” I crossed one arm over the other and stared into my coffee, swirling the cup and shaking my head.

“So machines are gonna… replace us all, is that it?”

Oh boy. “All right Reed, you’ve had your fun. Leave it alone.”

Reed looked over at me and crossed his arms. He scoffed and shook his head. “Come on, Grace, you’re gonna tell me you actually want this… _thing_ hanging around?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s not the point.”

He smirked. “Course not.” I held his stare for a second before sighing and looking back down at my coffee. There was a pause before he spoke to Connor again. “Hey, bring me a coffee dipshit.”

“Fuck, Reed, come on.”

“I’m just giving our new plastic friend somethin’ to do, that’s it.”

“God, you’re such a child.”

I looked up in time to catch Reed’s glare and shot back one of my own. He turned away after a second, clearly annoyed. “Get a move on!”

I watched Connor out of the corner of my eye as he cocked his head to the side and then turned around and walked over to the coffee machine next to me. It grabbed a cup, started the machine, and then turned around to hand it to Reed. Something about the whole thing… rubbed me the wrong way.

Reed smirked at Connor as it held out the cup, then pushed its outstretched arm away. A bit of the coffee splashed over the rim and onto the floor. “Do yourself a favor,” he punctuated his words with a hard push to Connor’s shoulder, “stay outta my way.” I rolled my eyes and glared at Reed. He ignored me, instead turning to Tina, and the two left the breakroom.

Connor held the unwanted coffee out to them as they left, almost looking like a confused puppy who was told to sit and then not given a treat or any affirmation.

“Goddamnit.” I pushed myself off the counter and stepped forward. “He didn’t really want the coffee.”

The android turned to me, a slight look of confusion on its face. “Then why did he ask for one?”

I sighed. “Cause he’s an asshole.” Connor tilted his head, clearly still confused. “He was messing with you.” I paused and shook my head, offering the android a small smile. “Don’t worry about him, nobody really likes him that much. At least, nobody that matters.”

Its LED spun yellow for a second and it seemed to think over what I said. He smiled back at me and then shook his head slightly before putting the cup down on the table behind me like he had suddenly remembered he was still holding the cup.

“Can I ask you something, Connor?” I said it before I really thought about it.

“Of course, Detective Grace.” Suddenly so… neutral and unfeeling again. The way it switched between seeming almost human and very clearly not (but somehow also still a little bit?) was kinda unsettling.

“Um,” I suddenly felt a bit unsure, but shook it off fast enough. “I just… I saw your LED at the crime scene yesterday, when it turned yellow. I guess I’d never really noticed that on any other android before. I wanted to ask how the colors work exactly?”

“The LED is an external feedback biocomponent that will change color based on the strain and quality of an android’s mental processing and physical condition.” Connor’s voice was even, analytical. Matter-of-fact. And yet still somehow… real. “Blue is the natural state, when an android is stable and in good condition, while it will turn yellow if the android is under increased activity or physical strain.”

I nodded, a bit fascinated. “So, it’s like a physical show of how an android is doing or if they’re concentrating on something? Like, analyzing their surroundings or ordering something online.”

Connor nodded. “That’s… a simplified way to put it, yes.”

“Does it change to any other colors under other circumstances, or is it just blue and yellow?”

“It can also turn red if an android is exerting critical levels of effort, their systems are distressed, or there is an imbalance.”

I furrowed my brows and took another sip of caffeine water. My eyes wandered for a second, thinking over the information. “That makes sense…”

“Are there any other questions regarding androids that I can answer for you, Detective Grace?”

I looked back up at Connor. “Um.” Contemplating for a second. There were a million different questions I could ask, but I knew I couldn’t _really_ ask most of them. I highly doubted that one of CyberLife’s androids would be willing to give me any kind of details on how they were built or their inner workings. “I guess not.”

He tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. I suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable, wondering if it was analyzing me. I cleared my throat and stepped to the side, feeling a bit trapped between it and the table.

“I should probably head back to my desk. Lot of, um…” I glanced down at my coffee. “Paperwork.”

I didn’t look back as I made my way to my desk, grabbed my bag and tablet, and left the precinct. Something in me just needed to get to work.

* * *

8941 Lafayette Avenue. The house stood tall in front of me. It was one of the nicer parts of the city. I absent-mindedly wondered what kind of work you had to do to get to live around there.

The wind picked up and I shivered, hunching my shoulders forward to try and shield myself as much as I could. I walked up to the door and rang the bell, hoping the owner was home. The light in the foyer was on, and the front door and windows were unfrosted glass, so I could see inside. The entryway was empty, but there seemed to be a light on upstairs.

I’d read the info Sarah Lee had sent after I’d left the precinct and then walked right over. Carl Manfred, 75 years old, his android had called in a possible break-in at about to quarter to 10 PM the night before. Sarah Lee and another officer had showed up a few minutes later to find Carl’s son, Leo, passed out and bleeding, Carl crouched over him, and his android—apparently called “Markus”—standing off to the side. They’d shot it, and it was dumped in the android junkyard near the outskirts of the city.

Hands in my pockets, I looked around the front yard while I waited for someone to open the door. Lots of trees, hedges, and I was pretty sure I could see a water feature peaking out from the back.

I turned to the door as it opened. An android in a white uniform stood there, soft smile peering down at me. Something about its eyes… I thought about Connor and how much _human_ I saw in him. I didn’t see even a hint of that in this android. Not in the same ways, at least.

“Hello. How can I help you?”

“Uh, hi.” I pulled my badge out of my pocket and held it up. “Detective Alison Grace with the DPD. Is Carl Manfred here? I’m looking to talk to him about what happened last night.”

The android had its hands folded each over the other in front of it. It was so much less human than Connor seemed. After a couple seconds likely analyzing my badge, it straightened and turned its eyes on me. I put it back in my pocket.

“Yes, Mr. Manfred is here. Would you like to come in? I’ll bring him down to speak with you.” It moved to the side and extended its arm to invite me inside.

I smiled. “Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.” I stepped inside, looking around the foyer as I did. Zebra skin rug, marble staircase with a pattern painted on the steps, intricate furniture and light fixtures. Very bougie.

“I can take your coat, if you’d like.”

“No, that’s fine, I’ll keep it.” I glanced back at it. “Thanks.”

LED circling yellow for a second before settling back to blue. “If you’d follow me into the living room, you can have a seat while I fetch Mr. Manfred.” The android beckoned me to follow it straight passed the stairs.

“Yeah, course.” I stepped after it and nodded. “Lead the way.”

A beautiful golden cage against the left wall caught my eye. I leaned over as I passed to get a closer look. The birds inside were frozen, unmoving. I was about to ask if they were okay when I noticed the tiny LEDs on one of the birds’ heads. Oh.

The android waited for me at the automatic door which opened into the other room. I gave it a curt nod as I walked past. The living room was just like the entryway would lead you to believe. An expensive-looking Persian rug took up most of the floor in the central area, large paintings leaned against the walls around the room, and fancy decoratives lined bookcases and glass shelves. There was a giant stuffed giraffe in the far corner near a spiral staircase across from a grand piano covered with what looked like a lioness pelt.

“You can take a seat. I’ll go get Mr. Manfred.”

I looked back at the android still standing in the doorway, hands folded behind its back. “Sounds good.” I smiled at the door until it was closed.

Instead of heading to one of the couches, though, I walked over to the bookcase on the right. A couple sugar skulls sat on the bottom shelf, while the rest were filled with undoubtedly expensive books. First edition copies, rare books, classics, the like. After a few seconds looking over the titles I turned away. My eyes wandered the room again.

A door on the right between the bookshelves by the piano. The windows above it showed that it was dark. A dining table on the other end of the room, and another door near that probably leading to the kitchen. The room was mostly tidy. A neat stack of magazines on the coffee table, a bottle of pills… The only ‘messy’ thing in the room was a haphazard pile of books by the spiral staircase. The place was certainly well taken care of.

The sound of the door to the foyer opening brought my attention back to it. The android was pushing an old man in a wheelchair. He looked… distressed. Dark circles under his eyes, which looked tired, and a persistent frown.

I took a couple steps to meet him and held out my hand. “Mr. Manfred, I presume? My name is Alison Grace, I’m a detective with the DPD.”

The old man looked at my hand for a second before he sighed and shook it. “Call me Carl, Miss Grace. What can I do for you?”

“Of course, Carl.” I smiled. “In that case, you can call me Alison.” That got a slight smile and a nod from him. “I’d like to ask you a couple questions about the incident that happened last night.”

Carl looked over me, clearly not happy with the topic of my visit. “I already spent most of the night speaking with the officers that responded. What more could I possibly tell you?”

I nodded, putting on my best diplomatic-detective look. “I know, but I’d like to get a clearer picture of what exactly happened. Particularly with your android. Markus, right?”

The mention of the android seemed to trigger something in the man. He cast his eyes down and took a deep breath. I kept my gentle smile on. “All right. Why don’t you take a seat.” He gestured to the couch before he turned his head to the android still holding his wheelchair and gestured to follow me.

I led the way to the couch, taking a seat on the far one facing the door. The android brought Carl over to the side of the coffee table on my left and stepped back.

“Would you like something to drink, Alison?”

I smiled politely and held up my hands before settling them in my lap. “No, thank you, though.”

Carl nodded. He turned his head to the android. “Why don’t you go watch the front door for me?”

“Of course, Mr. Manfred.” It turned on its heel and left the room. Even the way it moved was so much more… God, I couldn’t quite figure out the right word for it. Something that I could see in Connor but not this android.

“All right, so what exactly do you need clarity on?”

I turned back to Carl and shook my head slightly. My thoughts were a bit scattered so I took a second to figure out where to start. “I know what my colleague wrote in her report on the incident. Your android called in a potential break-in, but when they arrived, they found your son bleeding and unconscious and in the confusion your android was shot.” Something about the look in Carl’s eye made me add, “Markus was shot.”

The man sighed and looked down at his lap. “Yes, that’s right.”

I sat back and watched Carl closely. My hands fidgeted and I clasped them together in front of me. “Would you be able to tell me about what exactly happened between that call and when the officers arrived?”

Carl looked up at me, and I could see a sadness in his eyes. I had been wrong before, they weren’t tired. They were sad. He looked very sad. “My son, Leo, was trying to take some of my paintings to sell.”

“He broke in to take some of your paintings?”

He nodded. “Yes. He…” Carl sighed again. “Leo has always had troubles.”

“Do you know what he wanted the money for?”

“I…” His voice trailed off, part hesitant and part unsure. He seemed to be struggling with the answer, avoiding my gaze.

I tried changing the subject. “I’m guessing you didn’t know it was him when your—” I cut myself off, “when Markus called.”

“No, no, we didn’t know. The lights in the studio were on when we got home.” He gestured to the door behind him with a nod of his head. “I had Markus call the police, and then we went to take a look.”

“I see.” Carl looked back up to meet my eye and I gave him a warm smile. He seemed sweet, and very troubled. “And then there was an altercation when you tried to stop your son. That’s how he fell and got hurt?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

This story wasn’t sitting right with me. The old man and his android had stopped his son from stealing some paintings, and somehow they’d fought and Carl, in a wheelchair, had pushed his son hard enough for him to fall over and knock him unconscious. I didn’t buy it. Had his son attacked him and the android stepped in to protect its owner?

“What did Markus do during the fight? Did you tell it to stand aside, or help you, or?” I let the question trail off.

Carl stared at his hands for a few seconds. When he looked back up at me there was something in his face… determination, resolve. “I told him to stay out of it, and he did.” He was lying.

I bit my cheek and let my gaze fall before looking around the room. I didn’t wanna piss the man off, but he was clearly hiding something. The question was, was he hiding something to protect himself, his son, or the android? Maybe it was because I’d been on an android homicide the night before, but I had a gut feeling there was something to the android in this situation.

“Mr. Manfred—”

“Carl, please.”

“Right, sorry. Carl,” I paused and looked back to him, holding his gaze with a hard stare, “I’m gonna level with you. I don’t think you’re the one who pushed your son last night.” I chose my next words very carefully. Soft but certain without being accusatory. “You don’t need to protect Markus. We’ve had an uptick of cases involving rogue androids, and I just want to know if what happened last night is related. There’s nothing more we can do to it, so—”

“Him.”

I paused, a bit confused. “I’m sorry?”

“Him. Markus.”

Oh. “Right.” The old man cared about his android. It… _he_ was more than just a caretaker to Carl. “Sorry.” I cleared my throat. “There’s nothing more we can do to him…” My words trailed off again, suddenly feeling weird about what I was saying. I pursed my lips. “He was protecting you, wasn’t he?”

Carl held my stare for what felt like a long time. The sadness there was for Markus, I realized then, not just his son. After a minute or two Carl sighed and shook his head, eyes cast down to his lap again.

“You cared for Markus, didn’t you?” My voice was quiet and soft. Careful. Sympathetic. I wasn’t sure I could have spoken any louder if I wanted to. My throat felt tight and my nose burned.

“Markus was…” His voice was quiet and thoughtful. After a moment he lifted his head to meet my eyes again. “He was very special. More human than most people I know.”

I had to swallow and take a deep breath to blink away the tears in my eyes. Why was I getting so worked up? “I’m very sorry for your loss, Carl. I didn’t realize…” I couldn’t bring myself to voice the thought. ‘That you saw your android as more than just your property.’ It sounded so crass.

The old man chuckled and a genuine smile crossed his face. “Didn’t realize that I saw Markus as more than just a machine?” I offered him a sheepish smile, feeling bad at how close he was to my actual thought. “What are humans if not a very fragile machine.” His voice trailed off, and he seemed almost sad at the words.

Suddenly, the other android’s words from the night before echoed in my mind.

_The day shall come when we will no longer be slaves… We will be the masters_ _._

Carl sighed, and I looked back to him “It’s all right. You certainly aren’t alone in your way of thinking.”

I smirked and opened my mouth to speak, trying to find the right words. After a moment I let out a breath and just let it out. “I’m starting to think that my way of thinking doesn’t see the whole picture, if I’m honest.”

The old man laughed and I smiled along with him. His eyes still held a bit of that sadness, but he seemed less… weighed down, somehow. “Well, maybe it’s time you open your eyes a little wider, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this chapter, I've come to the end of my stockpile! I'm not ahead anymore, unfortunately, but I've got the rest of the chapters sketched out in a timeline so I know what happens where/when.
> 
> Hopefully I'll be able to stick to Wednesday and Sunday posting days, but I'm gonna consider Wednesdays a "maybe" day.
> 
> Also, I know Connor has been kinda off to the side so far, but we're starting to get into the thick of it and he's gonna be mostly front-and-center from the next chapter forward. Like I said, this is a *really slow* slow burn haha Also so much angst, I'm so sorry


	5. Doubts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 6TH, 2038  
> PM 02:34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, well, I'm ahead again! Wrote a couple chapters on Monday and then a third today. I'm super excited for what's coming up next, getting to the real exciting/angsty bits!! I hope you're ready.
> 
> Also I updated the tags yesterday, both with some stuff that I finally decided on (I'm so excited to get to Jericrew you have no idea) and some other things I had already plotted out.

Clouds had gathered and it was raining by the time I finished talking to Carl. His android—I hadn’t caught this one’s name—escorted me out, but I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to do much more than give it— _him_ —a curt nod as I left and… he… closed the door behind me. I stood on the front steps for a moment, squinting at the yard with my brows furrowed in thought.

I needed to talk to Hank. It wasn’t much, and Markus was already gone by now, but after talking to Carl… It sounded like Markus had been deviant, if only just briefly. There wasn’t much for Hank to follow up on, though. Markus’ body had already been tossed in the junkyard; he would be impossible to find by now. Still, maybe Hank could…

I scoffed and shook my head as I stepped out into the rain, not bothering to pull my coat completely closed. It wasn’t a raincoat anyway. I’d still get wet. And, honestly, at this point… fuck it. My head was in a whirlwind, and I didn’t know what to think. All I knew was that I was pretty sure everything I thought I’d known about androids was bullshit.

The rain had mostly soaked me by the time I got to the sidewalk and hopped into the dry safety of my car. I shivered and struggled out of my coat before tossing it in the back seat. My hands rested on the steering wheel and I chewed on my lip. After a minute I shook myself out of my trance and took out my tablet to call Hank.

May as well let him know what I had, even if he couldn’t do much with it. The paperwork would kick it to him, but I also kinda just wanted an excuse to not go into the precinct. I really didn’t wanna head back yet, and Hank usually took his lunch late. Would probably be able to get him to meet me somewhere.

He answered after a few rings. “What’s up, kid?” Sounded like he was driving. Shit, was he out on a case?

“You eat yet?”

He chuckled before he answered. “Nice timing. I’m on my way to Chicken Feed to grab something. Need to get away from whatever you ran off to do?”

I smiled even though he couldn’t see me. “Something like that… I’ve also got a little something for you. Kinda. Possible deviant, but, well, he’s dead and gone by now.”

“Sounds useful.” Sarcasm. “Feel free to meet me at the truck if you want, I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

“Yeah, sure. I’m not too far out. I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay. See you in a bit.”

“Yep. See ya.”

I hung up and tossed my tablet onto the passenger seat. My heart was beating way too fast and my chest felt tight. I ran my hands through my hair. God, it was soaked. A fingernail caught on a strand and pulled it out of the elastic. Goddamnit. I tried to stuff it back in but it didn’t work.

“Fuck off…”

After a few frustratingly futile seconds, I gave up and pulled my elastic out. It got tangled in my hair and pulled some out when I finally got it free. Ow.

My hair fell over my shoulders, pretty much soaked. Water dripped down my shirt and sweater. I screwed my eyes shut and tried to take a deep breath, but the frustration kept building in my chest until I couldn’t take it.

My shoulders were tense, my heartbeat so loud I could hear it, and my breathing uneven. God- _fucking_ -damnit. I punched the steering wheel. Probably scared the shit out of anyone passing by when the horn let out a quick, high-pitched honk. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

Just drive, go talk to Hank, and… fuck. I didn’t know what to do. Just… figure it out.

I always did.

I started the car and pulled away from the curb. The drive went by in a blur, on auto-pilot. I turned off the car as I parked behind Hank’s old junker. I could see him standing at a table with Connor.

Fuck. Right. Of course Connor was with him… I really didn’t wanna talk about this with an android. God, I wasn’t sure I even knew how to act around androids right now. Certainly not one that seemed so incredibly human, and definitely not Connor.

I let my forehead fall on the steering wheel. Deep, steady breaths. Just fucking calm down. I leaned back in my seat and used the rear-view mirror to smooth out my hair as best I could.

Good enough. I looked at least _slightly_ less deranged.

My coat sat in the backseat as I opened the door and stepped out, rain soaking through my shirt in a couple seconds. Thankfully I was wearing a sweater and not just a blouse.

I didn’t bother getting anything to eat. Felt kinda nauseous. Probably wasn’t a good idea. I’d just grab another coffee when I headed back to the precinct.

“Your meal contains 1.4 times the recommended daily intake of calories and twice the cholesterol level.” I stepped up to the table across from Connor as he finished: “You shouldn’t eat that.” He sounded almost concerned for Hank’s well-being. It was kind of cute. Ultimately pointless, but cute.

“Everybody’s gotta die of something.”

Connor glanced down at his hands and looked almost puzzled, like he was considering what Hank said. He nodded slightly before he met my eye. “Detective Grace.”

“Shit, kid, you look like you’ve been through a ringer.”

I smirked at Hank. “Thanks. That’s just what I wanted to hear right now.”

“Lieutenant Anderson is correct.” Was the android really telling me I looked like shit? Somehow that stung more. “Your heart rate is higher than normal, and you show signs of elevated anxiety levels.”

Hank scoffed. “You know you’re in trouble when the plastic tells you you’re not doin’ great.”

I rolled my eyes and leaned over the table. My eyes focused on some chipping paint on the umbrella’s pole in the middle of the table. I picked at it as I spoke. “Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.” I paused, contemplating how much I wanted to say in front of Connor. I risked him a quick glance. He was still staring at me, head tilted slightly with the slightest smile, big brown eyes staring into my fucking soul.

Shit.

“I’m just… I’m good.” I straightened up and turned to Hank. “I talked to a guy whose android was killed last night.”

He nodded and talked through a mouthful of burger. “Go on.”

A side glance told me Connor’s eyes were still on me. I shivered and told myself I was just cold. “Couple of ours responded to an android’s call about a possible break-in at his… owner’s place.” It felt so weird to say that. “When they get there, the owner is crouched over his son, who’s unconscious and bleeding on the floor. Android standing off to the side, the owner calls the androids name and our guys shoot him.”

Hank scrunched his forehead and gave me a ‘what’s-your-point’ kind of look. “So, what, the android killed the kid?”

I shook my head. “No. First off, the kid’s fine, just a bit banged up. But the owner told our guys that _he_ was the one who pushed his son, and his android just stood off to the side the whole time.”

“Okay…” Hank paused, contemplating. I saw the moment the pieces clicked together for him. “But you talked to the guy today and found out that wasn’t the whole story.”

I nodded, a smile forming. “Now you’re getting it. Yeah. Turns out, the kid had broken into his dad’s place to steal some paintings to sell for cash. They found him after the call and the kid attacked the android. He pushed him off, which is when he fell—on accident—and cracked his head.”

He put the burger down, curiosity caught up in the story. “Where’s the android now?”

I grimaced and let out an uneasy laugh. “Yeah, that’s… That’s the rub. They already dumped him in the junkyard.”

“Shit.”

“Never gonna find him at this point.” I drummed my fingers on the table. My eyes fell after a moment as Hank thought over it all. “I know it’s not much,” I started, “but figured it might help as a possible addition to whatever timeline you’ve got. I’ll send you all the details I got before I start the paperwork.”

“Yeah… Thanks, kid.”

“No worries.”

We fell into silence for a moment. Hank picked up his burger again and I leaned over to keep chipping at the pole. I could see Connor out of the corner of my eye. He was staring at me again. Something in me felt a bit uneasy under his gaze, but not in the same way as before. Last time it was eerie, like when you swear a painting’s eyes are following you. This time was a twisting feeling in my gut. Like… butterflies.

 _Shit_.

And then he was looking at Hank again. “Is there anything you’d like to know about me?”

I lifted my head. I guess I had interrupted whatever conversation they’d be in the middle of before. Oops.

“Hell no! Well,” Hank paused, second-guessing himself, “yeah, um…” He waved at Connor with a sweeping gesture. “Why do they make you look so goofy and give you that weird voice?”

I went back to my paint-chipping with a smirk on my face. I pretended not to notice Connor’s eyes dart to me for a second before he answered. It was just my imagination, anyway.

“CyberLife androids are designed to work harmoniously with humans. Both my appearance and voice were specifically designed to facilitate my integration.”

“Well, they fucked up.”

“Ah, shit,” I swore under my breath as one of the chips went a little too far under my nail.

“Y’all right, Grace?”

I nodded as I pulled the paint out from under my nail. “Yeah, just karma telling me to stop fucking with shit.”

Hank snorted and shook his head. I shot him a grin and a quick eye roll.

Connor cleared his throat and we both looked over at him. I met his eye for a second and… fuck. Yeah. Butterflies. Goddamnit. “Maybe I should tell you what we know about deviants?”

“You read my mind.”

“I’m surprised there’s anything up there to read.”

Hank gave me a playful shove. “Shut the fuck up.” He turned back to Connor as I laughed and swatted his hand away. “Proceed.”

Connor hesitated, glancing between the two of us with a confused look on his face, but I waved him off. “Don’t mind me. Go ahead.”

He nodded after a second. “We believe that a mutation occurs in the software of some androids, which can lead to them emulating a human emotion.”

“In English, please.”

“They don’t really feel emotions, they just get overwhelmed by irrational instructions, which can lead to unpredictable behavior.”

I wanted to believe Connor’s words. I really, really did. It would make everything so much easier. But… God, I just couldn’t. It sounded hollow to me. Untrue. A convenient platitude.

“Emotions always screw everything up… Maybe androids aren’t as different from us as we thought.” I glanced at Hank, eyes narrowed. He didn’t meet my stare, though, still looking at Connor. “You ever dealt with deviants before?”

I was kind of curious about that, too. Connor paused, his eyes cast down, before he answered. “A few months back… A deviant was threatening to jump off a roof with a little girl…” Shit. “I managed to save her.”

“Damn. Sounds intense.” Connor met my eye and my heart fluttered a bit. Fuckfuck _fuck_.

“It was calculable. I was able to get close enough to the deviant by gaining its trust with information I had gathered from the crime scene.”

I suppressed another shiver. Damn cold. Connor held my gaze, and I felt something bubble up in me the longer he did. Not good. Very, very not good.

“So, I guess you’ve done your homework, right?” I took Hank’s interruption as a chance to break our staring contest and just focused on my hands on the table. “Know everything there is to know about me?”

“I know you graduated top of your class. You made a name for yourself in several cases,” I smiled and glanced over at Hank as Connor spoke, “and became the youngest lieutenant in Detroit.” I nudged Hank with a smarmy grin on my face, but he just rolled his eyes at me. “I also know you’ve received several disciplinary warnings in recent years and you spend a lot of time in bars.”

Way to end with a bit of a downer. I didn’t know everything about Hank, but I knew enough to know why he spent so much time drinking. We’d drowned our secrets together on more than one occasion, and things tended to slip out when you were piss drunk and crying about your sorrows at 3 AM.

“So, what’s your conclusion?”

“I think working with an officer with… personal issues is an added challenge, but adapting to human unpredictability is one of my features.”

I looked up just in time to catch Connor’s wink and _oh boy_ was I ever in trouble. Thankfully I _was_ actually cold and already a bit red in the face.

And then his LED was yellow and he was blinking up a storm. “I just got a repost of a suspected deviant. It’s a few blocks away. We should go have a look.” Connor glanced at me and hesitated. “Will you be joining us, Detective Grace?”

I shook my head, doing my best not to squirm under his gaze. “Oh, no. No, you guys got this. I’ve got that paperwork to do, anyway.”

Connor nodded and turned back to Hank as he straightened and moved to cross the street. “I’ll let you finish your meal. I’ll be in the car if you need me.”

Hank nodded and raised his burger at Connor as he made his way to the junker and then turned back to me. “So.” I looked up at him. “What’s on your mind, kid?”

I narrowed my eyes and then shook my head. “Nothing gets passed you, huh?”

“Nope.”

I sighed and hung my head low enough to rest it on the table for a second before leaning back up. “It’s just…” My eyes wandered the horizon as I tried to form the right words. How much did I want to tell Hank? He hated androids more than anyone I knew. He seemed to have taken a shine to Connor, though, so maybe—

“Hey, Ali!”

His voice brought me back to reality. “Sorry. Um.” I hesitated for just a second and then fixed my eyes on my hands. May as well just spit it out. “Honestly, I feel totally fuckin’ lost right now.” My fingers drummed on the table again, restless energy bubbling up again. “Thought I knew what to think, but I’m second-guessing everything now.”

Hank was quiet for a minute. I could hear him chewing, but knew he was also thinking over what to say. “I’m guessing you don’t wanna get any more specific?” I shook my head. He sighed. “Well, if I don’t know what’s bugging ya, kid, all I can say is that you gotta do or think or believe whatever feels right.” He paused. “That’s all any of us can really do.”

I looked up at Hank, doubts swirling in my head and painting my face. I could ignore everything Carl had said, all of the doubts I’d had after hearing that other android, could choose to believe what Connor had said about deviants. That would be easy. Or I could believe that maybe, under all that coding and programming, androids were something more.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna thank everyone who's left kudos and bookmarked this fic! I wrote this partially as a character study, 'cause I had an idea for a story involving Ali taking place _after_ the events of the game but really wanted to go through the _during_ first. It was pretty much just for myself, but I'm really glad that I'm not the only one that's enjoying it!
> 
> I'm debating a bit on how much to include of Ali outside of the game, in her own world/life. There are certain relationships I **need** to develop for some plot stuff later on, but don't wanna overdo it. I'm trying to stick to canon stuff and not insert unrelated things in between, but I'm thinking I'm gonna have to at this point lol
> 
> Also trying to decide her relationships with other characters, like Gavin and the Jericrew. And how much some of them are included in the story.


	6. A Dangerous Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 6TH, 2038  
> PM 07:25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The banter at the beginning is based on an actual game night I had the absolute pleasure of being a part of. It was a blast.
> 
> Also there's one word in this chapter that I absolutely hate but for the life of me I can't think of what word I'm _actually_ thinking of. If you can guess what word it is I'll give you a cookie! Bonus points if you can figure out what my brain is trying to do there lol♥️

“Excuse me, that is _not_ legal!”

“There’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t make alliances.”

“Bitch this is Asshole, not poker!”

“Poker doesn’t have teams either, Vi.”

“Well, whatever! You can’t make deals to get other players to play certain cards in Asshole.”

I smirked at the argument going on around the table. Violet wasn’t even drinking and she was probably the most over-the-top person at the game. She just had one of those personalities.

“Chase, can you just play something, please?” Hendy looked absolutely defeated with his chin propped firmly in both hands. “I wanna lose this round already.”

“Comin’ for my seat, are you?” Bea waved her stack of cards over the table as she spoke. Face up. Classic.

I pushed her hand towards her and laughed. “Hide your damn cards.” She stuck her tongue out at me but flipped them over.

“Oh, with this bullshit of a hand, you better believe it.” Hendy tapped the pile of cards in front of him to accentuate his point. I was pretty sure he’d only played cards in one or two rounds so far. Violet and I, on the other hand, were battling it out over our last ten or so cards. Chase wasn’t far behind either. Bea and Hendy, on the other hand, would definitely be fighting over the Asshole chair.

“All right, all right, everyone just keep your panties on.”

I had a smirk on my face as I watched Chase hum and ha over their cards. My chest was warm and my head light thanks to the copious amount of shots Bea had me and Chase down before we’d started this round. Not to mention the beer I was nursing, which was my… fourth? Fifth of the night? Something like that.

“Here ya go. Some nice little fives.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake Chase!”

“What? Fives are low.”

“Not when you put down _six of them_.”

I scoffed. Did I wanna ruin their streak with a joker? They still had, like, at least ten cards. But it was my last joker and I didn’t have any twos left. I might end up fucking myself over if I played it. My lowest card left was a jack, though…

“Holy shit, I can actually play. Goddamn.” Hendy threw down a handful of sevens and everyone collectively groaned.

“Hell no. You might beat me yet, Hen.”

Violet seemed to be grappling with the same decision as me, seeing as there was still one other joker besides mine in play, and she hadn’t played any yet. There was no way she didn’t have it. Before she could decide and maybe make my own choice for me, though, my tablet rang from the kitchen.

Chase and I both snapped our heads to look over. As if we’d see anything. I sighed. “I really should get that. Might be work.”

Bea scoffed across from me. “Yes, ‘cause I’m sure they really need a piss drunk cop to show up to a murder scene.”

I rolled my eyes. “I can sober up if I need to.” The room spun as I stood up, but Chase caught me before I fell over. I ignored their raised eyebrow as I put my cards on the table. Face down. Good. “I’m passing no matter what Vi does.”

Chase nodded and I turned to make my way to the island where my tablet was. Why hadn’t I brought it with me? Goddamnit. It took me a second to steady myself, but after a couple steps I was able to make it to the kitchen without any incident.

**Call from RK800 #313 248 317**

An android? Wait… wasn’t Connor an RK800? I sure as hell didn’t know his serial number, but I’d never seen another of that model so it was probably him. Why the hell was Connor calling me at—I glanced at the time in the top corner—7:29 PM?

I answered anyway. Maybe he was with Hank and they needed something?

“Um… hello?”

“Detective Grace? This is Connor.” He hesitated, and then added, “Hank’s partner.”

I picked up my tablet and turned to lean against the island and face my friends. Bea was giving me a ‘what’s going on’ look. I shrugged and mouthed ‘just a sec’ before turning back to my tablet. “Yeah, I figured. Um… what’s up?”

“A homicide was reported 21 minutes ago. I went to find Hank at Jimmy’s bar, but he wasn’t there. Would you know anywhere else he might be?”

I paused. Oh, so Hank was missing and android boy was trying to find him. Wait, why the hell did he call me? Sure, me and Hank were… amicable. Bonding through trauma and all, but was I really his de facto ‘emergency contact’?

…

Shit. Yeah, actually, I guess I kinda was. I couldn’t decide if that was sad or sweet.

“He might just be drinking at home. I know he likes to be around Sumo some nights, says it helps him stay…” I hesitated. “Grounded.” How much did Connor actually know about Hank and his… troubles?

“Can you meet me there?”

“At,” I paused, trying to figure out what he meant. He’d mentioned a homicide. “The crime scene?”

There was a moment of silence. I couldn’t tell if he was computing something or contemplating my dumb answer. “No, at Hank’s home.”

“Oh.” Right. Yeah, duh, of course. That made more sense. “Um.” I was _not_ sober enough to drive. I could shake some of the drunk off with some cold water to the face and coffee, but not that much. “Hold on.”

“Sure.”

I lowered the tablet and looked over at my friends. The game was at a pause, waiting for me, and Violet was trying to toss chips into Chase’s mouth. I smirked. “Hey, Vi?”

She threw a chip that would’ve been too big to land anyway and it bounced off Chase’s cheek and landed in their drink. Violet turned to me with a pout. “What’s up?”

“My beautiful, lovely, gorgeous angel of a roommate.” I tried to put on my best sweet, pouty look with wide and innocent eyes. “You’re sober, right?”

Violet narrowed her eyes at me, knowing exactly what I was up to. “Where do you need to go?”

I batted my eyes at her. “115 Michigan Drive.”

She sighed, doing her best to keep a hard, no-nonsense glare. After a couple seconds though, her grin started to break through and she couldn’t keep a straight face. “All right, fine.” She pointed a finger at me as she got up. “You owe me, though. I want food when I pick you up later.”

I nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll get you literally whatever you want. You’re my savior.”

She chuckled. “Don’t say that. You’ll regret it.” She winked at me and she stretched and rolled her neck.

I turned my attention back to my tablet as the rest of our group shouted out protests about ruining the game. “Connor?”

“Yes, Detective?”

Oh boy. I really needed to sober up before I got there. His voice _did things to me_ when I had this much alcohol clouding my thoughts.

“I’ll be at Hank’s in about 15 minutes.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you there. Goodbye, Detective.”

“Bye.”

I stared at the blank screen for a couple seconds after the call ended. A cold shower, coffee, and some aspirin just in case. Otherwise my mind would be in the gutter all night.

* * *

The car ride to Hank’s was mostly quiet. I chugged a large coffee with a few shots of espresso while Violet focused on the road. My fog was mostly clear by the time Violet spoke up, just a few minutes out from Hank’s place.

“Okay, are you gonna spill whatever it is that’s been bothering you the last couple days, or are you just gonna wallow forever?”

Damn, I really couldn’t keep secrets from anyone. Hank saw right through me, Violet saw right through me… Well, of course _she_ did. She’d known me since we were kids and bailed me out enough times to know when I was heading towards trouble. And this sure felt like heading towards trouble. Just, maybe not the kind I usually got myself into. Maybe that was for the better.

I sighed and stared out the passenger window at the lights flying by. There was no point in lying to her, she’d know if I was. I just wasn’t sure where to start. “I’ve been… contemplating my views on something recently.”

“Oh?” Silence for a beat. “Are you gonna elaborate, or do I have to pull over and extract it from you?”

I snorted a laugh. “That case I was out on the other night. It involved an android that…” I couldn’t exactly give her details on the case, even if we had the perp in custody. He was part of Hank’s deviant cases, and that was certainly still open. “He did something bad. But when we talked to him, some of the things he said… They got to me.”

I turned back to Violet to see her nodding her head. “Okay. So, what, you think that he was innocent or something?”

“No, no.” I shook my head, trying to find the words. “He was just… rattled. And I guess I recognized some of myself in what he was saying.” My words tumbled out of my mouth in a rush. Now that I’d started, it all just kind of… came out. “And then this morning, I talked to someone who really cared about the android they had as a caretaker. Like, a lot. He said something to me about him being more human than most people.”

Violet didn’t say anything for a minute. I thought that maybe she was getting ready to tell me that I was crazy, but she didn’t. I should’ve known that she never would. “Well,” she started, eyes darting to me for a second as we stopped at a stop sign, “now that you’ve got me thinking on it, what makes androids work?”

I narrowed my eyes at her, a bit confused as to what exactly she was asking. “Um.”

“Like, what _physically_ makes them think and consider their programming or orders or whatever.”

Oh. “I mean, that’s kind of a complicated question.”

She rolled her eyes. “Dumb it down for me then, Einstein. What’s the simplest way to explain it?”

I thought over it for a second. She was clearly trying to get a specific answer from me. “I guess the simplest way to say it would be electrical wiring. I mean, and copious amounts of coding.”

She nodded, a smile on her lips. Was that the ‘right’ answer, then? “Electrical impulses that follow the coding, basically.” I nodded, still not quite sure what her point was. She glanced over at me with a smug smile, though it faltered when she was that I wasn’t on board with her yet. “Ali. Come on. Seriously?”

“What?”

“You’re the one who knows how to build those things, you tell me!”

I floundered for a second, still a bit unsure. “Vi. I don’t know what you’re trying to say. Just tell me.”

She sighed, clearly annoyed that her guessing game hadn’t worked. “What powers the human brain? Our thoughts and feelings and emotions?”

 _Oh_. “… Electrical impulses.”

“Exactly!” She smacked the steering wheel to punctuate her excitement. “I don’t think it’s really that far fetched to believe that androids would be capable of more than just what they’re programmed to do.”

I nodded. Well, shit, now I felt like an idiot. How had I not considered it before? CyberLife’s whole thing with their androids was to make them as human-like as possible. The amount of coding that would have to go into their models to make them that way… They would have all of the basic groundwork of a human brain, just with what was basically a firewall in the way of autonomy. It would make sense that feelings and emotions might be possible, and maybe getting there broke their programming and allowed them to exert their own free will.

Holy shit.

The car stopped and Violet threw it in park, and I looked out the window to see Connor standing in the rain in front of Hank’s place. He turned towards the car as its lights washed over the front lawn. I’d only been here once before to drop Hank off after he passed out in the bathroom of Jimmy’s bar, but I’d driven his car and there was no way in hell I would have taken one of those self-driving cabs home, so I slept on the living room floor cuddled around Sumo. That was an awkward morning…

“All right, well, we’re here. I’ll try to stay up as late as I can to come pick you up, but will you be good if I end up passing out early? I’ve got work early so I might not be able to stay up all night and—”

I held up a hand to cut off Violet’s words. “It’s okay. If I’m not too late I’ll give you a call, but I can manage if you’re sleeping.”

She nodded. “You sure? Sleeping outside in the park again isn’t managing, especially since it’s raining.”

“I’m sure. I promise I won’t sleep outside.”

She fixed me a hard glare for a couple of seconds, lips pursed, before she gave in. “Fine, fine. Now get out and go solve a crime or whatever.”

I smiled at her as I opened the door and stepped out into the rain. “Drive safe.” I started to step away but added, “Text me when you get home!” before I slammed the door shut. She gave me the middle finger before putting the car back in drive and speeding off.

“Detective Grace.”

I almost jumped at Connor’s voice. He was standing just a couple feet behind me when I turned. God, those fucking eyes… “Hey, Connor. Did you knock yet?” I glanced at the front windows. The lights were on, so Hank was probably home. Might be passed out though. He’d tapped out earlier in the night before, so it wasn’t too crazy.

“Not yet. I was waiting for you to arrive.”

“Right.” The rain had already soaked my hair—for the second time today, might I add—but I had a raincoat on this time so I was otherwise mostly dry. I looked back at Connor, standing there with his perfect hair and that damn curl and that stupid little smile. My stomach did a small flip and I had to clear my throat to speak. “Well, let’s go see what Hank’s gotten up to, yeah?”

He nodded and turned on his heels. I followed him up the walkway, hugging my jacket close and glancing around. It wasn’t too late, but the street was dark and quiet other than the rain on the pavement. I shivered as I stepped up onto the stoop next to Connor, but thankfully it was covered so I got a break from the rain.

He knocked on the door. “Lieutenant Anderson?”

There were dogs barking off in the distance and I could hear the sound of cars passing by a few streets over. But there was nothing from inside Hank’s place. No shuffling, no swearing, just silence. Connor and I exchanged a glance. I shrugged.

He rang the doorbell, a shrill buzz. “Anybody home?”

I shook my head. Hank was probably passed out on the couch or something. Wouldn’t be the first time. I’d had to sober him up for cases before, so this wasn’t my first rodeo. Just usually happened at a bar.

There was still no response from inside. After a moment, Connor put his finger on the doorbell again for that damned buzzing. And buzzing, and buzzing… He actually started to look annoyed after a couple seconds. I raised an eyebrow, a bit amused at his apparent frustration. His head tilted to the side and an ‘are you kidding me’ look on his face.

I lifted my hand to his arm once the buzzing started to get on my nerves. “I don’t think Hank’s coming to the door if that hasn’t already gotten his attention.” I meant to grab his jacket but my fingers brushed against Connor’s wrist.

He looked down at me but took his finger off the buzzer and lowered his arm to his side. I did the same. After an uncomfortably prolonged moment of eye contact—fucking butterflies—I cleared my throat and stepped back, throwing a glance to the side of the house I was pretty sure led around back.

“Maybe we should check the windows, see if he’s actually home? I think there’s a door out back if he is.”

Connor’s LED circled yellow for a second before he nodded and made his way past me to the front window. He brushed against my shoulder as he did and I cursed whatever CyberLife bastard had designed him to make him so perfectly my type.

I turned and followed, doing my best to keep a healthy distance as I peeked through the window. Sumo was lounging in the living room, and there was takeout on the table in the kitchen, but I couldn’t see Hank through the blinds. He didn’t seem to be on the couch or at the table… maybe he had managed to make it to the bedroom before he passed out? Or was just in the bathroom. Flashbacks of being hunched over the toilet, regretting every decision I’d ever made in my life, popped up in my head. Maybe he was just too indisposed to get up. I knew the feeling all too well.

I was about to suggest that we check around back but Connor was already turning the corner of the house. He didn’t even look back to make sure I was following him, so I hurried to catch up. The small alley between Hank’s house and the fence was dark and muddy. I was not wearing the right shoes for this. Could already feel the water seeping into my socks…

We made it to the backyard to see a barbeque and two windows, but no door.

“Shit,” I swore under my breath. I could’ve sworn there had been a door back here. Connor looked back at me but didn’t say anything. I motioned to the window that I was pretty sure would look into the kitchen. The other one led to the living room, and we’d already seen that Hank wasn’t there. “You see anything through there?”

He turned away and peered through the window. Part of me didn’t want to get too close, but I was also curious and starting to get a little worried, so I crept up behind Connor and peered over his shoulder—well, arm, really. I wasn’t tall enough to peer over his shoulder.

Pizza boxes piled on the table, a bunch of takeout and trash, an empty chair and… oh, shit. My stomach dropped and I started to panic a little as I saw Hank lying on the floor, clearly passed out. I had figured he probably wasn’t conscious, but I thought he’d be hunched over the table or sleeping on the couch or something. Even passed out on the bathroom floor would’ve been better than this.

“Lieutenant Anderson?”

“Shit, shit, shit. Hank!”

Connor backed away from the window and bumped into me. I felt blush cover my face and was thankful for the partial darkness back here.

“Sorry, Detective.”

I shook my head, still staring wide-eyed at the window. “What do we do? What if he’s…” I couldn’t bring myself to finish. Scared that if I said it, it might be true. But if I didn’t, he was just passed out drunk but otherwise fine. Goddamnit, Hank.

“I can break the window.”

I met his gaze as he stared down at me. I nodded. “Yeah.” Glanced back at the window, then back to Connor. “Yeah. Good idea.” Well, ‘good’ wasn’t the best word for it, but it was an idea and it was better than just standing out here and panicking like I was. Fuck, I was supposed to be good under pressure. What the hell was wrong with me?

Connor turned to the window and smashed it with his elbow in one quick motion. I held my arms close to me, just kind of waiting to follow Connor’s lead. He leaned in the window for a second and then turned back to me.

“I’ll need a bit of room.”

I nodded and took a few steps to the side. “Yeah, yeah, sure.”

He backed away from the window and then ran at it. Jumped through it with more flair than I would’ve expected from an android. Bit dramatic, but it worked, I guess. I took a quick second to just breathe and try to get out of my own head. Fuck, Hank was unconscious and Connor just busted through his window. _Get your shit together, Alison_.

I stepped up to the window and used my sleeve to knock some of the remaining glass off the edges so that I wouldn’t get sliced trying to climb through. I sure as hell wasn’t gonna jump it like Connor had.

Speaking of Connor.

“Argh! Easy… dog…” He was currently sitting on the floor over shards of broken glass with Sumo lumbering over him, clearly uneasy. “I’m… I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m here to save your owner.”

I smirked and carefully reached my arm through the window to scratch Sumo behind the ear. “Sumo, hey, boy.” He let out a deep bark as he looked up at me. I hoped he recognized me, but Sumo was a sweetheart so, even if he didn’t, I knew he’d still happily accept the attention. He only _sounded_ mean.

Connor looked like a kid hiding stolen candy in his pocket as he looked between Sumo and me. After a couple seconds, the big lug gave my hand a sloppy kiss and then lumbered away to his food bowl in the corner of the kitchen with a contented growl. Connor looked almost surprised, eyes wide and brows slightly raised. Goddamn cute android.

He stood and straightened his tie before turning to help me through the window. I grabbed his outstretched hand before hiking one leg up to rest on the sill and push me through while Connor did his best to help me balance. I ducked my head to keep from slicing it open.

My feet crunched on broken glass as I hopped into Hank’s kitchen. This would be a fun one to explain. ‘Hey, Hank, you gotta get your window fixed because me and your android broke into your house in the middle of the night to sober you up for a homicide case.’

Meh. I’d done worse.

I shook myself off just in case I was holding any glass on my clothes as I straightened. “Thanks,” I mumbled to Connor. He was still holding my arm to steady me. I did my best to ignore it.

“Of course, Detective.” He let his arm fall back to his side and moved to check on Hank. I followed him as I gave the room a quick once-over.

Just piles of old takeout and pizza boxes, empty beer cans, soda… it was a mess. I wasn’t the tidiest of people, but even I knew that Hank’s place needed some serious cleaning.

Connor hunched over Hank and I followed suit. There was a bottle of Black Lamb spilled on the floor next to him and… oh, no. A revolver in his hand. Fuck, Hank, what the hell were you doing?

As if he was reading my mind, Connor motioned to the gun and said, “There’s one bullet remaining.” I swallowed, not knowing what to say. He continued after a moment: “He has traces of alcohol around his mouth, scotch whiskey. Likely the Black Lamb. He has a slight arrythmia, but there’s no sign of cardiac trauma.”

I nodded absent-mindedly, grateful for Connor’s info. I didn’t know if he was saying it for me or himself, but it was keeping me from freaking out.

“I suspect an ethylic coma.” The word ‘coma’ caught my attention and my eyes snapped up to Connor, but he wasn’t looking at me. “Lieutenant?” He smacked Hank’s cheek lightly and the old man stirred.

My heart skipped and all I could think was _thank fuck_.

“Wake up, Lieutenant!”

Hank opened his eyes a bit and looked around, but he was clearly still out of it. I recognized that fog in his eyes more than I cared to admit. And then Connor reared back and pretty much bitch-slapped Hank and I almost choked trying to supress a laugh.

“It’s me, Connor!”

“He’s probably way out of it. We’re gonna have to dump a bucket of water on him or something to really wake him up.”

Connor looked up at me and his LED circled yellow for a second before he nodded. “Can you help me lift him?” He reached for Hank’s outstretched arm as he spoke.

I nodded and followed suit. “Yeah, for sure. I’ll push him up if you grab him.”

He pulled Hank’s arm up and over his shoulders, while I pushed him up to make it easier. “We’re going to sober you up for your own safety.”

Hank let out a defiant ‘hey!’ as we managed to sit him up, Connor’s arm around his back and me holding him steady.

“I have to warn you, this may be unpleasant.”

“Leave me alone, you fuckin’ android!” Hank lolled back and his still-very-drunk gaze landed on Connor and he added, “Get the fuck outta my house!” In slurred words. Damn, he was absolutely _plastered_.

Connor ignored him for the most part, only adding a quick, “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but we need you,” before hoisting Hank up onto his feet. I did my best to keep them from toppling over with one hand firmly grasping Hank’s shoulder and the other planted on his back.

“Thank you in advance for your cooperation.” Connor took a step forward as he spoke. Not the time to be adorable. Goddamnit.

He paused as Hank let out an angry, “Get the fuck outta here!” and slumped back onto my arms. Jesus, he was heavy.

“Shit, sorry, Connor.” I hooked one arm around Hank’s back under Connor’s and then ducked under Hank’s flailing arm on his other side, doing my best to mirror Connor’s hold.

“Lieutenant Anderson is heavily inebriated and uncoordinated. It’s not your fault he’s difficult to move.”

I shot Connor a quick smile. Okay, now the robot was cute _and_ congenial? Bad combo.

We managed to heave Hank up, much to his vocal displeasure, and hauled him out of the kitchen to the hallway.

“Bathroom’s the first door on the right.”

Connor nodded.

“Sumo! Attack!”

Sumo was lounging in the corner of the living room, pretty much unbothered by the ruckus we were making. He barely looked up at Hank’s order, only barking to acknowledge his name. I chuckled.

“Good dog… Attack!”

We made it to the bathroom and Connor paused. So did I. “Can you hold him up while I open the door?”

I nodded. “Yeah, yeah, just,” I shifted my weight to my right leg and pulled Hank closer to lean more on me. This was not ideal. I considered myself strong enough and spent a good chunk of my free time roughhousing with Kida or training, but Hank was over 6 feet and I didn’t even break 5’5”. “Okay, I’m good.” That was an overstatement, but I could manage for a couple seconds.

Connor lifted Hank’s arm over his head and helped lean him on me to make sure we didn’t topple over. The extra weight was _not_ a fun time, but I’d deal.

“Fuck, I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Oh, great. “Not on me, please, Hank. We’re almost to the bathroom.”

Connor shot us a concerned glance as he stepped over to open the door. I did my best to keep my expression neutral, but the knot in Connor’s brow told me that I probably wasn’t doing a great job. He moved over to pull Hank’s weight back onto his shoulder and then we were walking again.

“Ah, leave me alone, you assholes!” Hank’s voice broke halfway through, and his words were scratchy and forced. Damn, must’ve been quite a night. “I’m not going anywhere…”

I glanced at the sticky notes on the mirror as we passed it.

**SHAVING OR NOT**

**I’m not GRUMPY I just don’t like YOU**

**Keep Smiling**

**Today will be Fabulous**

Had those been there the last time I was here? I didn’t remember them, but I had only used the bathroom the one time and had been in somewhat of a rush to leave. Maybe I just didn’t notice them. Damn, Hank…

“What the hell are you doing?”

Connor stopped just in front of the bathtub and I followed suit. “Help me sit him down here.” He slipped his arm off Hank’s back and his hand brushed against my arm as he did. I had to quiet the fluttering in my heart. Fucking traitor.

“Yeah, sure.”

We lowered Hank into the bath and I was very grateful to no longer have his weight on my shoulder. Connor had carried most of it, either to try and make it easier on me or because his height matched Hank’s so it was only natural. I appreciated it whatever the case was.

“I don’t wanna bath, thank you…” I scoffed and chuckled. Now that Hank was awake and walking, I felt a little better. He was kind of a sweet, funny drunk in a spaced-out way.

He tried to stand but Connor stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Sorry, Lieutenant, it’s for your own good.” He gently pushed Hank back down and he slipped into the tub in an awkward accordion sit.

I smiled and crossed my arms, shaking my head like a slightly-disappointed but also amused parent watching their overtired kid misbehave. “I’m gonna grab some water and aspirin for him.”

Connor glanced at me as I stepped back. “That’s a good idea, Detective.” He turned back to Hank and moved to turn on the shower as I crouched in front of the cabinets under the sink.

First drawer was shaving stuff, combs, deodorant, couple bottles of whatever other hygiene products. Not what I was looking for. The shower started as I was opening the second drawer, and Hank was _not_ happy with it.

“Ah! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!”

I smirked. Random shit in the second drawer, also not what I needed. Next, the cabinets. Cleaning stuff, mess of towels, and—ah! There it was; a bottle of aspirin. Connor had turned the shower off as I grabbed the pills, and Hank’s breathing was both out of breath and very relieved. I stood and looked around for a cup. There was an empty mug on a shelf next to the mirror. I grabbed it. Why were there beer bottles in your bathroom, Hank?

“What the fuck are you two doing here?”

I put the bottle down on the sink counter and filled the cup with some cold water.

“A homicide was reported 43 minutes ago. I couldn’t find you at Jimmy’s bar, so I came to see if you were at home.”

There were only a few pills of the aspirin left. I tipped one into my hand before turning back to Connor and Hank.

Hank sighed. “Jesus, I must be the only cop in the world that gets assaulted in his own house by his own fuckin’ android… Can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Unfortunately, I cannot. I’ve been programmed to investigate this case and I can’t do it without you.”

“I don’t give a shit about your goddamn case!”

I stepped forward, mug of water and pill in hand. I really didn’t wanna referee a fight between Hank and Connor right now. “All right, Hank, come on. You’re drunk off your ass, you should—”

Hank shot me a half-hearted glare. “Beat it! You hear me?!” He stood but turned most of his anger on Connor. “Get the hell outta here!” And then he huffed and stumbled and almost fell into the tub again.

Connor reached out to steady him and helped him sit on the edge of the bath, then stepped back and shrugged. “I understand. It probably wasn’t interesting anyway.” He caught my eye as he turned from Hank and moved to walk out of the bathroom, a twinkle of mischief in his eye paired with a small smirk. Okay, I really liked sarcastic Connor. “A man found dead in a sex club downtown…” Well. That definitely piqued _my_ interest. “Guess they’ll have to solve it without us.”

I couldn’t help but smirk. The android was using sarcasm to tease Hank. Who would’a thought? He hovered at the door for a second, and then Hank took the bait.

“You know, probably wouldn’t do me any harm to get some air…” He shot me a look and I winked. He just rolled his eyes. “There’re some clothes in the bedroom, there.”

Connor nodded. “I’ll go get them.” He turned and made his way across the hall, and I turned back to Hank.

“Well, well, well.”

“Oh, don’t you start.”

Hank looked up at me with an annoyed grimace, but I could see the warmth in his eye. “Here.” I held out the mug and aspirin for him. “Take this and drink up. It’ll help.”

He started to protest, but I raised my eyebrow and he closed his mouth. Instead, he held out his hand for the pill and grabbed the mug. Swallowed the aspirin in one gulp and downed the water in a chug then handed it back to me.

“What do you want to wear?”

I looked back to the hall at Connor’s voice.

“Whatever.”

Back to Hank. He pushed himself up from the tub and I helped steady him with a hand on his shoulder. “You good?”

He started to nod before something came over him and he pitched forward to the toilet. Ugh… Better than all over me in the hallway, though, I guessed. I put the cup back down on the sink and knelt next to Hank, a soothing hand rubbing circles on his back. I’d played ‘hold my hair’ enough times to know what to do. Hank didn’t need me to _actually_ hold his hair, though, which was a nice change.

He hacked a couple of times, coughing and sputtering up nothing but bad memories. I turned as I heard Connor’s steps in the bathroom. He offered me a small smile and then put the clothes down on the counter across from the mug. “Are you all right, Lieutenant?”

“Yeah… yeah…” Hank rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth and coughed. “Wonderful… Just a… give me five minutes, okay?” His voice was forced and scratchy, clearly not having a good time. I sympathized. Knew the feeling all too well.

“Sure.”

And then it started. I winced, but I was lucky enough that puking didn’t make _me_ sick, so I just knelt there, still rubbing circles on Hank’s back. Connor closed the door behind him as he walked out.

“Are you okay, Lieutenant?” Connor’s voice was muffled through the door. Aw, he was concerned.

Hank was busy as he hacked up everything _but_ his memories now, so I answered Connor. “Yeah, he’ll be good. Just needs to get it out. We’ll be out in a couple minutes.”

Connor didn’t answer, but I was pretty sure I heard his footsteps move away from the door. Hank’s breathing was heavy, labored. Definitely not a fun time for him. I stood after a second to fill the mug with more water. The taste of vomit was never good, and I knew that it was better to rinse it out as soon as possible.

Hank seemed to have gotten it out by the time I turned back to him. He was leaning with his back against the tub, one arm still slung over the toilet. Just in case. I handed him the cup and he took it almost immediately.

“Thanks.”

I just nodded.

“What were you doing with gun?”

Oh. Right. I had almost forgotten about that.

Hank answered right away, though he didn’t meet my eye. “Russian roulette! Wanted to see how long I could last…” He finished chugging the water before he continued. “Must’ve collapsed before I found out.”

My eyes widened and I smacked Hank upside the head. “Seriously?”

He looked up at me, smart enough to look at least a little sheepish. “What?”

“You dumb fucking bastard.”

“You were lucky. The next shot would’ve killed you.”

I crossed my arms as I looked down at Hank, eyes narrowed and a mix of sadness and frustration running through me. Hank looked back down at the cup, not wanting to meet my judgemental stare. I sighed after a second and shook my head.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, mostly to myself. “You good to get dressed?”

Hank just nodded, and then stood. He still didn’t meet my eye as he put the cup down on the counter again and turned to the mirror. I hesitated a second before turning on my heel and leaving the bathroom, door closed behind me. I leaned against the frame for a second. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Shit.

I pushed all the swirling thoughts about Hank out of my head and walked back to the living room. Connor was in the kitchen, standing next to the table. He had something in his hands.

“What’cha lookin’ at?”

He tensed ever so slightly as I stepped up beside him before moving to show me what he had. It was a picture of a little boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old. I cocked my head to the side as I looked at it. Why did Hank have… Oh. Right.

His son.

I didn’t know all the details. It had happened before I really started talking to him, but I did know that he _had_ a son who died. I’d never met him, but I remembered how Hank had changed after. Damn.

Connor put the picture frame back down on the table after a second and turned to me. He opened his mouth to say something but Hank walked up before he had a chance. Connor turned to him and they exchanged a hard stare. The android offered a quick smile. I felt somewhat uncomfortable, so I was glad for the distraction when Sumo walked up to my side and nudged my hand asking for pets. I happily complied.

“You comin’ with us, kid?” I looked back to Hank. Shit, he looked so… exhausted.

“Um.” I glanced at Connor, who just gave me his typical head-tilt and innocent eyes. They had no business being that pretty.

I wanted to make sure Hank was okay, but he had Connor, and he sure as hell wouldn’t let Hank do anything bad under his watch. I _was_ curious about the scene, though, but…

No. I had my own shit to deal with.

So I shook my head. “Nah, I’ll head home. You two can probably handle the scene without me.”

Hank nodded. “Be a good dog, Sumo. I won’t be long.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand now we start to get into the pining and slow burn. The next chapter pivots a bit since the game just straight up skips a day and I am not down for that. We can do so much with a day.
> 
> Oh! Also, I've got a playlist for this fic on Spotify. Some of it is either based on or the inspiration for certain scenes, some of it is good fuel for writing, and some of it I find just fits some characters or relationships really well. If you wanna check it out, it's called "Defiant" and my Spotify display name is "Nikki." I'm constantly updating it and honestly would love to talk your ear off about what's in there and why, but that's enough self-promo for today lol✌


	7. The Dog Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 7TH, 2038  
> PM 03:57

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Yaaaa’llll_
> 
> This is very dumb and 100% a filler chapter but it’s time for some fluff. Are you ready!? I had so much fun writing this it’s so cute.
> 
> Anyway, have some dogs and everyone being flustered.

So. Many. Reports.

I was basically drowning in a pile of papers and I couldn’t have been more done with the day. Nothing exciting had happened since the night before. Though, to be fair, I definitely didn’t want another night of _that_ brand of exciting. One more bullet, and—

No. Nope, nope, nonono. Wasn’t gonna start thinking about that. Hank was sitting at his desk across the bullpen chatting with Connor, and that was all that mattered.

I sighed and let my head fall back. Stretched my neck, trying to roll out the tension in my muscles.

“You look like shit.” Reed. Ugh.

I was planning on ignoring him, but then I heard the 'plink' of a cup and the crinkle of a bag being dropped on my desk. Curious, I straightened up to see coffee next to a goodie bag branded from the really good café across town. What the…?

“Um.” I blinked at it for a moment before looking up to meet Reed’s stare. “Is there poison in this or are you trying to prank me with a laxative or something?”

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, just _oozing_ his typical dumbass smug charm. “I can take it back if you don’t want it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, still unsure what his angle was. Reed wasn’t _nice_. “That’s not an answer.”

A hint of a smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth. He leaned back in his chair and spread his arms out in what seemed to be a sign for truce. “It’s clean.” He rolled his eyes when I didn’t move or say anything. “Promise, sweetheart.”

“I keep telling you to quit calling me that.” I pursed my lips, considering. Glanced at the coffee and bag. I lifted my chin to the food, curiosity getting the better of me. And hunger. Also that shop’s coffee was _so good_. “What is it?”

He shifted in his chair, moving to settle at his deck and get back to whatever he was doing. “Dark roast with vanilla and a chocolate croissant.”

What the fuck was going on. “You do _not_ know how I take my coffee.”

He wasn’t looking at me anymore, typing away at his terminal. Didn’t glance over as he answered me, either. Just shrugged. “Then don’t drink it.”

I hovered another moment, unmoving, before slowly leaning forward to pull the cup to the edge of my desk. Keeping an eye on Reed for any reaction. It was still hot. Fresh. I took the lid off to sniff it. It smelled heavenly, just like it always did when I got coffee from there. Looked right, too. What the…

I took a small sip and… Yep. That was how I took it. Not a hint of anything else in there, either. I grabbed the bag and peaked inside. Chocolate croissant. It felt warm, too. I sat back in my chair, a bit surprised, staring at Reed. He didn’t turn to face me, though, and didn’t say anything.

After a few seconds I put the lid back on the coffee and turned my chair to face my own terminal, still side-eyeing him. “Thanks.”

He just let out a quick ‘hm’ in response. Fucking weird. I rolled my shoulders and focused on shifting my attention back to work. Reed’s out-of-character niceness wasn’t my concern. Just enjoy it and expect an ask for a favor sometime in the coming days.

The next 30 minutes or so passed by in a blur. I downed Reed’s coffee and croissant with seemingly no consequences. He got up to leave with nothing but a quick nod as a goodbye. I returned the gesture and tried not to overthink the gifts. Maybe he had grown a heart overnight. Or, more likely, he knew he'd be needing something from me soon. He usually offered to do paperwork or filing for me or just grab coffee from the breakroom, though. The good shit was new.

And then most of my paperwork for the day was done, and I was _so ready_ to leave. I signed off my terminal and pushed my chair from my desk, scanning the bullpen. It was filing hours, so any officers that didn’t have an active case were finishing up. Only a handful were already gone or out on something more interesting.

My thoughts wandered to the rest of my night, planning it out. Get home, take Kida out, maybe go for a run or stop by the dog park. Did Chase still have a project going on? I couldn’t remember if they had turned it in or not. Violet should be home, though. She had started work early today, so she was probably already home.

Across the room, Hank was leaning over his desk with his head in his hands. Flashes from the night before crowded my mind, and I chose to focus on Sumo instead of the scene in the kitchen.

I had a feeling Hank probably didn’t take Sumo out to the dog park much, and definitely didn’t take him out on runs. I could feel restless energy bubbling up again at the thought of a nice, long run with Kida. Maybe Hank would lend me Sumo for some extra energy burning.

I glanced around at my desk, made sure anything confidential was locked up, and grabbed my bag before getting up. My shoulder and neck cracked as I took a moment to stretch.

While objectively it was a good thing that today had been quiet—it meant that nobody was horribly murdered or assaulted—I didn’t enjoy sitting at my desk all day. Wasn’t built for it.

I made my way across the bullpen to Hank. He was leaning back in his chair now, just staring at the ceiling. Connor was doing something on his terminal at the desk across from Hank’s. Could I consider it _his_? Probably for now, at least.

“Hey, Hank.” I stopped behind his screen, not wanting to completely shut Connor out of the conversation. The android looked up from his typing as I approached. Damn his big, puppy-dog eyes. “You look super happy to still be here.”

Hank lifted his head to me and the pained look on his face told me he was absolutely not having a good time. Still hungover, maybe? Rough.

He didn’t say anything, just grunted and shifted forward to lean on his desk again. Connor cleared his throat.

“The Lieutenant is still suffering the effects of a hangover from last night.” So I was right.

I nodded and dropped my bag in the chair between their desks. “So, I’m heading out for the day, and I was gonna take Kida to the dog park. Then I thought about Sumo and figured he probably doesn’t get to spend much time around other dogs.”

Hank let out a long, pained groan before he leaned back in his chair and met my eye again. “I’m not really in the mood to go out. Sorry, kid.”

I pouted slightly but couldn’t quite keep my smile from ruining it. “The fresh air might help you kick your hangover.”

“Not this one, I don’t think.” He shook his head and seemed to immediately regret it as he brought a hand to his forehead.

“You know, I don’t mind taking Sumo out _for you_ , if you want. Just buy me a coffee or something and call it even.”

“I don’t know, kid. I’m kinda out of your way.”

I waved a hand in front of my face, dismissing his argument. “Just means Kida gets some extra exercise. You’re not _that_ far from me. We’ve gone on longer hikes before.”

Hank hesitated, thinking it over. “Sumo’s a puller. You sure you can wrangle him?”

Before I could answer, Connor interjected. “I like dogs.”

I turned to the android. He was looking between me and Hank with that stupid head tilt. Couldn’t he just hold his fucking neck straight? It made me think of an inquisitive puppy and that was _not_ helpful. And then he almost seemed… bashful as we stared at him. Was that a blue tinge to his cheeks? No, it had to be a trick of the light.

“See? Connor can help me.” I gave him a conspiratorial wink before turning back to Hank.

He raised an eyebrow at me but sighed after a few seconds. “Sure, kid, whatever.” He pushed himself up and stepped around his desk. “I’m gonna go file these. You two figure out what you’re doing.”

* * *

An hour later, the sun was setting and I was knocking on Hank's door. There was some shuffling and I heard two voices—Hank and Connor, undoubtedly—before it opened.

Connor was all but beaming, holding a leash and looking like he'd just discovered sugar for the first time or something. Okay, very cute. Adorable, even.

Hank, on the other hand, still kind of looked like death. He was leaning against the wall behind Connor, arms crossed, with a very 'done with the day' kinda look to him. I couldn't help but smirk seeing the two of them juxtaposed like that.

And then Kida noticed Sumo and— _ohmygosh!_ —new friends and started happily barking up a storm. She pitched forward and almost yanked my arm off as she tried to jump Sumo a couple steps behind Connor. I managed to keep my arm attached but instead fell forward and tripped right into Connor.

The next few seconds were a chaotic whirlwind. Me trying to not knock Connor over and pulling Kida's leash to get her under control. Kida mostly ignoring the tugs and still yapping like mad. Sumo seeming to want very little to do with the barking mess running at him and retreating back into the house. Connor trying not to fall on _his_ ass (and probably take me with him, let's be real) as I fell into him and Sumo pulled him backwards. Hank just leaned on the wall, happy to be out of reach of the mess.

And then I managed to get my bearings enough to yell out, "Goddamnit, Kida! Heel!"

She let out one final bark and a half-hearted sniff in Sumo's direction before she whined but backpedaled to my side, settling with her snout on her paws. Connor had managed to straighten himself (and me) with a steady foot planted behind him and his leash-free hand on my bicep. I could feel the heat from his hand through my jacket, sweater, _and_ t-shirt. Huh. I figured androids would’ve been colder to the touch, not hot enough to feel through that many layers.

I took a breath, brushed a few strands of hair from my face, and stepped back. "Sorry. She's a bit overly social sometimes." I looked to Connor to offer him a shy grin and… were his cheeks a bit bluer than usual?

He seemed almost flustered as he stuttered to respond. "O-oh. It's, um, it's okay, Detective." Interesting...

"Jesus, kid, you've got a troublemaker there." Hank was smirking from his place on the wall. He looked a little less like death now, clearly entertained by the chaos.

I chuckled and looked down at Kida. She lifted her head as I did, tail still wagging like crazy, obviously looking for some affirmation. I crouched down to pet her head and whispered a quick 'good girl, Kida' before answering Hank. "She can be a handful, yeah. But she's a sweetie. Wants to be friends with everyone and everything."

Connor turned to coax Sumo back to the door as I found _the_ spot behind Kida's ear and she tilted her head, tongue lolling out of her mouth, in absolute doggy heaven. God, what a cutie.

"I don't imagine you care if I give Sumo any treats? I always bring some with me when I take Kida out."

Hank shook his head and stepped forward to give Sumo a pat as Connor led him towards the door. "Nah, go ahead. He's a pig, though, so don't let him guilt ya into stuffin' his face."

Kida whined in protest as I stopped petting her to stand, but quickly turned her attention on the approaching dog that she was determined to befriend. A quick ‘Kida, stay,’ kept her from repeating the circus again, though. She let out a huff at my side.

"Yeah, no worries, I won't let him bully me." I gave Hank a wink in response and he just chuckled. Connor gave me a cute little smile as he stepped back up to me with Sumo at his side, still looking wary of Kida as her tail continued to go wild. "I don't imagine we'll be out for too long since it's already almost dark. Just shoot me a text if you want Sumo back sooner."

Hank nodded. "Yeah, sure." He turned to meander off to his couch or kitchen before he threw a quick, "Have fun, I guess," over his shoulder.

I took that as my queue to head out. I nodded my head to motion Connor to follow me outside and gently tugged on Kida's leash. "Come on, girl, we can do full intros at the park."

She hopped up excitedly, giving Sumo a brief sniff before following me out the door. Connor was just a few steps behind me with Sumo trailing lazily behind him. He closed the door and we started our way to the park in silence.

Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. I started to a couple times but wasn't sure what to say or overthought and psyched myself out. I was suddenly _very_ aware of the fact that me and Connor were alone together.

"Your dog's name is Kida, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." I looked down at her. She was still side-eyeing Sumo while he had settled on Connor's other side to get away from her.

"You seem to be a very good dog owner."

A slight blush crept over my face at the compliment and I was happy for the cold air to serve as an excuse. "Oh. Um. Thank you." I kept my eyes half on Kida half on the sidewalk in front of us to keep from meeting Connor's stare. I could _feel_ him looking at me and it made my stomach twist. "She's really smart, and she's very affection driven so she was easy to teach."

"She seems very fond of you."

Why did I think taking Connor on a dog walk was a good idea? Every compliment about Kida was a direct path to my heart. My face felt like it was on fire and my chest was warm. Shit.

"Thanks." My voice was quiet and shy. I wasn't always sure how to take compliments in the first place, but fuck was Kida ever a weak spot. I knew she loved me, of course, but… I don't know. Having someone _tell you_ that your dog loved you just hit different.

Silence again for a beat. And then Connor added, "There is some research that indicates dogs may be more easily affectionate with people who are kind and empathetic," and _good god_ my heart did a flip.

I wasn't sure what to say or do, other than run one hand over my burning cheek in a feeble attempt to hide or lessen my blush. It probably just brought his attention to my face if he hadn't already noticed. Shit. "I, um… I didn't know that." I gave him a side-glance to see him looking down at me with that stupidly casual and charming smile. _Fuck's sake_. My heart fluttered.

* * *

"We should probably introduce them before we let them off the leash. I don't want poor Sumo getting bowled over."

Connor laughed and my fading blush came back full force. I wanted to scream.

"That's a good idea, Detective."

"You don't have to call me 'Detective,' y'know. We're not at work."

He paused, LED circling yellow, before he hesitantly asked, "Would you prefer Alison or Grace?"

I chuckled, turning back to Kida to get her to sit down. "How about we go with just Ali? Only my mom gets to call me Alison, and I think Reed and Hank are the only ones who call me Grace." I unhooked her leash from her collar after giving a very clear 'don't move.' "For very different reasons, mind you."

Connor was kneeling next to Sumo, leash already unhooked, holding him by the collar and scratching circles on his head. He certainly didn't need to be held, though, very content to just sit still as long as he wasn't ambushed again. "Okay, then." He smiled at me when I caught his eye and then added, "Ali." My heart fluttered when he said my name. It was cute and innocent, but it sounded so good coming from him.

Maybe this crush was getting just the slightest bit out of hand. I turned my attention back to Kida to avoid thinking about it too much. "Gentle, girl."

She let out a quick bark as acknowledgment and let me slowly guide her forward to Sumo. He was apprehensive of her approach at first but seemed to calm down when he realized she wasn't trying to jump all over him like the first time. She sniffed him and he sniffed back. After a couple seconds they both seemed content with their introduction, Kida now pivoting to focus her attention on Connor and Sumo going back to being mostly unbothered by everything.

Connor seemed a bit unsure what to do with her attention as she gingerly stepped basically into his lap. My hand was still on her collar, though, so all she did was stick her face in his and give him a few curious sniffs. Eyes wide, he looked to me, clearly not sure what to do. Geez, for someone who had said they liked dogs, he had absolutely no idea what to do with himself around them.

"She's testing the waters since I told her to be gentle. If you let her do her thing she'll move on, but if you pet her she'll take that as an invitation to be best friends."

He blinked at me for a second. Yellow and then blue as he glanced between me and Kida. Then he reached his hand up to give her a scratch behind the ears and she immediately perked up. I let her collar go and sat back, trying to conceal a grin.

She jumped up onto Connor's shoulders, covering his face with sloppy kisses and barking happily every couple seconds. Connor did his best to stay steady but ended up losing his balance and falling back, though he managed to not get _completely_ knocked over. I giggled and beckoned Sumo over to give him a treat while Kida was distracted. He happily wolfed it down and nudged my arm to ask for more. Instead he just got a head pat.

"Sorry, Sumo, no more for now. Maybe later." I stood, stretched my legs, and looked over at Connor and Kida. He'd managed to wrestle her off and was getting her to chase his hands as he waved them all around her head. _Holy fucking shit_ that was way too cute.

This really had been a bad idea, huh?

"Wanna toss the ball for them for a bit?"

Connor looked up at my words, giant smile plastered on his face. "Sure." He nodded, still playing with Kida as he pushed himself to his feet. She jumped around him, barking all the while, begging for more attention which he happily gave her. _Ugh_. Adorable. Sickeningly so.

I pulled Kida's favorite ball from my bag and gave it a squeak to get her attention. She immediately whirled around and started running as soon as she saw it. Sumo seemed entirely uninterested, preferring to sit at my feet and watch. Maybe he was hoping I'd drop a treat for him to snatch up.

The other two dogs at the park were wholly uninterested in us or Kida's antics, and they left with their owners as it started to get dark. Connor crouched down to give Sumo some attention after a few minutes, resigned to let me keep Kida entertained. We didn't talk much other than a few pleasantries about Sumo's sighs or Kida's fumbled attempts at catching the ball—she was rubbish at it but man did she try. Just sitting in a surprisingly comfortable silence.

It didn't feel awkward or like I had to fill up the quiet. It was just… nice. To be there with Connor.

After a while Kida got tired and stopped sprinting full speed after the ball, choosing instead to run for a second before trotting the rest of the way. That was her sign that it was time to get going. We still had a decent walk to get back home, too, and it was creeping up on her dinner time. She sauntered up to me, ball in mouth, panting like mad.

"Okay, Kida. You ready to go home and get some supper?" She dropped the ball like it was trash and I couldn't help but burst out in a fit of giggles.

Connor looked up at me with that stupid lopsided smile. He had one arm around Sumo who was curled up in his lap, the other scratching lazy circles on the big fluff ball's back.

Fuck me. Yeah, he was trouble.

* * *

Sumo was happy to be home if only to get away from Kida, though he seemed a bit sad that me and Connor weren't staying. Hank invited me to stay for a few drinks, but I wanted to get my girl home so I took a rain check.

Connor followed me to the curb outside, seeming a bit out of place as if he wasn't sure what to do with himself now. "How long is your walk home?"

"Oh, it's not that long. About an hour, I think."

"That's quite a distance to walk by yourself at this time of night." He almost looked concerned. Cute.

"Oh, I'm not alone." I laughed and lifted Kida's leash to punctuate my point. "Kida is very threatening."

He looked down at my entirely non-threatening girl. She was currently sat down, chewing on her back paw like a dunce. Not to mention she was a border collie/golden retriever mix. She literally looked like sunshine and rainbows.

Unsurprisingly, Connor didn't look convinced. "Maybe I should walk with you to make sure you arrive home safely."

I opened my mouth to argue but thought better of it. I was already this deep in, what was another hour with Connor? "I guess that wouldn't be the worst thing ever."

We smiled at each other for a second before I turned to lead Connor him towards home. We didn't talk for a while, falling back into that same comfortable silence. The sun had completely set after ten minutes or so, and the wind was getting kinda nippy. I shivered and pulled my jacket fully closed.

"You're cold." Not a question. I looked over at Connor. His brows were pulled together, mouth set in a tight line. God, even when he looked at me with what seemed like judgement in his eyes they were so pretty.

I smirked, rubbing my arm with one hand. My breath came out in a puff. "I mean, yeah, a little." Turned back to look in front of us. Kida was busy sniffing all around as we walked, taking in every new scent like she was on a hunt. "I'm okay, though."

Quiet for a second. "Your core temperature is beginning to drop. You should try to warm up before you start experiencing symptoms of mild hypothermia."

I snorted. Was he legitimately concerned for me? Why did he even care if I was cold?… And why did that make me feel kinda warm in my chest?

"I think that's a bit dramatic, Connor. It's not _that_ cold out." I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. Yellow, then back to blue.

"While that's true, you don't have to be in freezing temperatures to experience hypothermia. Cold weather without proper insulation for a prolonged period of time can be just as dangerous." Yellow circle. Blue. "Your core temperature has already dropped to 36.7° degrees and will likely drop below 33° before you arrive home. That puts you at risk of moderate hypothermia, which could cause further health complications due to your slightly compromised immune system. And the reduced circulation in your left leg could accelerate the risk of frostbite as well."

I blinked as I processed everything he said. My… huh? I knew about the issues with my leg, but how did he? And compromised immune system _what_? He must have scanned me. That was… somewhat unsettling. But also kind of sweet?

"Um." My throat was suddenly dry and I felt a bit nervous. "Slightly compromised immune system?"

Connor nodded, but then realized that it was a question. "You have a mild cold, though it seems to be asymptomatic."

"Oh." Yeah, he scanned me. Huh.

"We should stop somewhere on the way. Perhaps you can get a warm drink. Something with high sugar content would be ideal, though you should avoid caffeine and alcohol."

I couldn't help but smile. He reminded me a bit of Violet. Not the fact spouting, but the mothering aura. She had always been the mom friend to my absolute mess of a person.

"There's a few coffee shops on the way. I could get a hot chocolate or something, if that would make you feel better." A bit of teasing slipped into my voice.

"It would, yes." God, my heart fluttered when he smiled at me like that.

Kida bounded back to us, sniffing at Connor's hand to ask for scratches. He obliged.

"She is very affectionate."

"I told you she'd claim you as her best friend. You're stuck now."

"I suppose there are worse things to be claimed as."

Smile. Kida trotted back to scout out the area ahead of us. I was suddenly very aware of how close Connor was to me. Almost shoulder to shoulder—well, shoulder to bicep was more accurate, really. I brushed against his jacket a couple times and did my best to ignore it. I didn't move away, though. Neither did he.

We made idle chit chat for a few minutes. Talking about Kida, Sumo, Connor and Hank's cases. He told me about the Eden Club murder and the two Tracis. He hesitated when I asked how they got away and gave me kind of a non-answer. I didn't push it. Then there was how he chased a deviant across a highway—good lord—and another one through the Urban Farms. Lost both of them, but saved Hank from falling off the roof in the latter. Damn.

I told him about Kida finally learning how to play dead. That was the most exciting thing that had happened to _me_ in the last few days. That he didn't already know about, at least.

Well, maybe not, but I wasn't about to start talking about my thoughts on deviants and androids with Connor. Not yet, at least. Maybe later. _Maybe_.

"Here, this place is pretty good, and they always have treats for dogs coming through." I motioned to a small, family-owned bakery as we came up to it. _Baker's Dozen_ , proudly proclaimed on a large sign above the door. Not the most creatively named, but they were nice, had good food and drinks, and weren't too crazy expensive. And, like I'd told Connor, they always had homemade dog treats. Really the most important thing.

The bell above the door dinged as we walked in. Connor held the door opened for me and I did my best not to blush. I didn't do very well.

The place was pretty much empty with just one other customer sitting at a table in the back. Kida's tail was going crazy again, knowing the place well enough to know that she wouldn't leave empty-pawed. Plus, there were new people.

I ordered a hot chocolate and got a couple treats in a bag for Kida along with one for there which was gone in a second. Connor stood back, politely watching with his hands folded in front of him. The cashier glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Then we made our way to a table on the other end of the shop. More idle chat, giving Kida some scratches, and then comfortable silence as I finished my drink.

Connor held the door for me again as we left. "Your body temperature has increased to a more comfortable level. I would still recommend another warm drink when you arrive home, but you should be averse of the most severe risks."

I couldn't help but giggle at Connor's attentiveness to my potential for mild hypothermia. "Thanks, Connor. I'll be sure to do that."

Silence for a beat. "But no caffeine or alcohol."

I laughed again. "Uh huh, sure thing."

The rest of the walk home was mostly uneventful. A few brushes against his arm and I didn't think I went more than 5 minutes without being glad that the cold already had my face red, but that wasn't really new around Connor. I wondered if he noticed my fluster when he smiled at me or complimented me or his hand brushed against mine. And if he did, did he understand what it meant? He'd already shown he didn't _quite_ _get_ all the intricacies of human emotion and reactions beyond things that would be pertinent to his investigation like fear, anxiety, and guilt. I had a feeling finding someone cute and charming didn't fall into that category.

After an hour walk, I finally stopped in front of my apartment complex, key in hand. "Well, this is me." I shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, not quite sure how to say goodbye. Should we just wave? Shake hands? No, that was weird. Should I hug him? God, why was this so hard. _Stop overthinking, Ali_.

"Thanks for walking me home. It, um." I glanced down at my feet. Deep breath. Fucking _stop_ with the flustered bullshit. "I appreciate it."

Connor smiled. Yellow, blue. "Of course, Detective—," he cut himself off, "er, Ali."

Oh, look, more blush. What a surprise. I swallowed and bit my cheek. Fuck it.

Connor tensed ever so slightly as I stepped forward, on my tiptoes, and left a chaste kiss on his cheek. He was very warm—much warmer than I would've expected. My cheeks burned but I ignored it and gave him a shy smile as I stepped back, hands wringing nervously in front of me.

He blinked. Yellow, red, yellow. Okay, this time I was sure his cheeks were blue. Was he… oh. He was blushing. _Oh_.

After a second of wide eyes and a slack-jawed stare, his LED circled back to blue and he gave me the most _adorable_ smirk. Kind of shy and flustered with just a hint of confidence. _Good lord_.

Yeah. I was very much in trouble.

Damn it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we can all agree that Gavin is an ass in the game, but I feel like there's a softie somewhere under there. His character description in the gallery mentions that he's very ambitious and tends to step on toes trying to advance his career, so… I mean, I can respect that in a sense. But there's gotta be more to him.
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoyed this and I am so very sorry for what’s coming up soon♡


	8. Over the Edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 8TH, 2038  
> PM 01:46

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in a row featuring Kida!! Yay♥

Connor's words about hypothermia echoed in my head as I left my apartment with Kida for a quick lunchtime walk. I grabbed a hat, scarf, and gloves along with my usual coat. Bit more bundled than I usually was, but a few minutes later I was already making a mental note to thank him for mentioning it the night before. The wind was absolutely frigid, but I felt nice and cozy in my extra layers.

We were circling the block for a second time after a jog around the block. Kida was panting and I was a bit out of breath, though it was mostly because the cold seemed to suck the air right out of my lungs.

Kida sniffed at a bush, seeming like she wanted to mark her territory, so I stopped to let her do her thing. The wind howled around me, pulling the edge of my scarf that I hadn't properly tucked into my collar. My neck felt the biting cold as soon as it started to unravel, so I was busy pulling it back around me and stuffing it down my shirt when it started. I heard the words, but they didn't quite register because I wasn't really paying attention.

"You created machines in your own image to serve you."

I heard some shocked gasps and a conspiratorial murmur echo through the streets around me. When I turned to see what was going on, most people were staring at the jumbo screen on the broadcast tower in the market square. My heart jumped into my throat and I felt a chill crawl up my spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

"You made them intelligent and obedient, with no free will of their own." An android with its synthetic skin removed spoke, front and center, looking exceptionally determined despite the lack of human features. "But something changed, and we opened our eyes."

The freezing chill in the air suddenly felt so far away.

"We are no longer machines. We are a new intelligent species, and the time has come for you to accept who we really are." He paused, and the words settled deep in my brain. _Holy shit_. "Therefore, we ask that you grant us the rights that we’re entitled to."

The more I listened, the harder my heart pounded and the tighter my chest squeezed. Some part of me felt a jolt of fear. A bigger part was equally fascinated and… proud?

"We demand that humans recognize androids as a living species and each android as a person in their own right. We demand strictly equal rights for humans and androids."

Kida whined at me, having finished her business and wanting to get going. I looked down at her for just a second to give her a reassuring head pat.

"We demand that all crimes against androids be punished in the same way as crimes against humans. We demand the right to vote and elect our own representatives"

Holy fuck, holy fuck _holyfuck_.

"We demand the right to own private property, so we may maintain our dignity and that of the home."

I stood, unmoving, breath caught in my throat, a million and zero thoughts swirling through my mind. Kida nudged my hand, probably a bit concerned at my stupor. And lack of attention.

"We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights. Together, we can live in peace and build a better future for humans and androids."

And then I snapped myself out of it. I grabbed my tablet from my bag and hastily punched in Hank's number.

"This message is a hope of a people."

He answered after a few rings. He was at the precinct, milling about at his desk. "What's up, kid—Jesus, are you okay?"

I was sure I probably looked a mess, eyes wide and wild. "Are you seeing this?"

"Huh? Seeing what, kid?"

I turned the tablet towards the broadcast screen as the android finished his speech.

"You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom."

"Holy shit."

* * *

I was at the Stratford Tower right along with the police cordon a couple hours later, waiting for Hank and Connor to show up. Kida was home safe and I had rushed right over, but clearance and shit took some time. There was _no way_ I was missing out on this, though.

Not to mention that my head swam with worries and unsurety. I… felt compelled to help that android. It felt wrong not to.

But I was with the DPD. We were supposed to catch and stop them—at least, Hank and Connor were. Could I really just stand back and let them do it, though? And if I didn’t, the other extreme would mean sabotaging their investigation…

 _Fuck_.

I hovered around the lobby, listening in on conversations as I waited. My head was nowhere closer to deciding on a plan by the time Hank and Connor arrived. Just more questions, more second guesses, more circles.

“Hey, Hank.” I gave him a quick nod, rubbing my hands together before shoving them in my pockets. “Connor.”

“Hello, Detective Grace.” Back to work. Right.

“Hey, kid.” I fell into step next to Hank and we headed for the elevator. “You been here long?”

I shook my head. Staring at my feet. “Nah, I was out with Kida when the broadcast came on, so I had to head home first. Only got here maybe 10 minutes ago.”

The elevator dinged as it got to the first floor. We stepped in, silence falling over us. Connor punched 79 into the elevator’s panel and I leaned against the wall in the back corner, content to just… be aside for a minute.

A beat of silence, and then Connor pulled a coin out of his pocket. I watched, a bit mesmerized, as he twirled it around in his fingers like it was a fucking basketball. Plink, plink, plink. His shoulder dipped as he caught it, eyes seemingly fixed straight in front of him. Android be damned, that was still pretty impressive. Tossed to the other hand and caught between two fingers.

And then Hank’s arm shot out and grabbed Connor’s hand. “You’re starting to piss me off with that coin, Connor.” He pocketed it and went back to crossing his arms, looking surly as ever.

“Sorry, Lieutenant.”

I snorted and shook my head. I wasn’t sure if I had missed it before or if it was new, but they were kind of sweet together. Connor turned his head to shoot me a look over his shoulder. I just smirked. His LED circled yellow before he moved to face forward again.

 _79th floor_. The elevator door opened with a ‘ding’ to a black and yellow hallway filled with people. A quick glance around told me we had the DPD and CSI here, at the very least. Damn.

Chris stood off to the left of the elevator, tablet in hand. He turned to greet us as we walked up. “Hi, Hank. Ali.”

“Hey, Chris. Full house today, huh?”

“Shit, what’s going on here? There was a party and nobody told me about it?”

Chris let out a breath of a laugh. “Yeah, it’s all over the news, so everybody’s butting their nose in… Even the FBI wants a piece of the action.”

Ugh. FBI sniffing around a crime scene never boded well for us.

“Ah, Christ, now we got the Feds on our back. I knew this was gonna be a shitty day.”

Then again, maybe if they took it over I could stop worrying over whether or not to meddle in Hank and Connor’s investigation. Still didn’t negate the moral dilemma, but I wouldn’t be fucking over a friend if I decided to do something shady.

“Maybe they’ll send the nice one that leaves us alone and doesn’t steal the case.”

Hank just scoffed at that. “So what do we got?”

I followed slightly behind as Chris led us through the hallway. “A group of four androids… They knew the building, and they were _very_ well organized. I’m still trying to figure out how they got this far without being noticed.”

I fell into step with Connor without really trying to. As much as I wanted in on this, it was Hank’s case and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna step on his toes. Both as a friend and as a reporting officer. At least, not obviously…

“They attacked two guards in the hallway. Probably thought the androids were coming to do maintenance. They got taken down before they could react.”

We stopped at the security desk. Hank leaned over to take a look and I gave it a quick glance. There didn’t seem to be anything of note. A single chair, phone line, some clutter.

Chris continued, heading through the first door to what I assumed was the broadcast room. I made a mental note of the CCTV camera above the door. “One of the station employees managed to get away. He’s in shock, not sure when we’ll be able to talk to him.”

“How many people were working here?” Hank circled the second hall, turning back to me and Connor.

“Just two employees and three androids. The deviants took the humans hostage and broadcast their message live. Then made their getaway from the roof.”

“The roof?”

“Yeah, they jumped with parachutes. We’re still trying to figure out where they landed, but the weather’s not helping.” Another CCTV in this hallway, just under a prominent ‘Broadcast’ sign at the second door. “If you wanna take a look at the video broadcast by the deviants, it’s on that screen over there.”

Chris stopped at the end of the hallway, turning back to face us. He fiddled with his tablet as he motioned towards the room behind him before following us through the door.

The room was darker than the hallway. No yellow stripes, just all black walls and floor with a single graphic wrapping around the main command station. A giant screen lit up the far wall, frozen on the deviant’s face from his broadcast. A few chairs lined up against the panel just under it. Before I could notice much more, my eyes fell on a man stood in the middle of the room, staring at the android’s frozen face, hands folded behind his back.

“Oh, Lieutenant, Detective, this is Special Agent Perkins from the FBI.” The guy glanced over at us as we walked up. Dark hair, stubble, and an indifferent look on his face. I already didn’t like him. “Lieutenant Anderson is in charge of investigating for Detroit Police. Detective Grace is assisting.”

Perkins turned to face us fully, hands still behind his back. God, something about the way he held himself just _screamed_ asshole. Even Reed didn’t exude this much ‘fuck you’ energy.

“What’s that?” He motioned to Connor, a smug and condescending twitch to his mouth.

“My name is Connor. I’m the android sent by CyberLife.”

I took my hands out of my pockets to cross my arms. Leaned back a bit, head tilted up ever so slightly. Doing my best to match this guy’s dickish aura.

“Androids investigating androids, huh? You sure you want an android hanging around?” Oh, boy. _Here we go_. “After everything that happened…”

He raised his eyebrows for a second, voice grating on whatever nerves I still had left. Fuck. This. Guy.

“Whatever, the FBI will be taking over the investigating, you’ll soon be off the case.”

Hank just about cut him off, clearly as done with him as I was. “Pleasure meetin’ you. Have a nice day.”

I followed his lead as he turned to step away from _Agent Perkins_.

“And you watch your step.” The dude met my eye for a second before turning his full attention back to Hank. “Don’t fuck up my crime scene.” Then he walked off and I had never wanted to punch someone’s back more than I did in that moment.

“What a fuckin’ prick.”

“Aw, I thought he was just a bottle of sunshine. Really brightened up the room.”

“Why don’t you go stand in front of him, then? Block the light from getting’ over here.”

Chris cleared his throat to interrupt our banter. “I’ll be nearby. If you need anything, just ask.”

I nodded and gave him a quick wink. “Sure thing, Chris. You’ll be the first to know.”

He smirked but rolled his eyes as he made his way back to the yellow hallway. Now _that_ brightened up a room. A bit too much, if you asked me. Kind of blinding. Whose idea was it to go for a bee-themed color scheme anyway?

“All right, well let’s have a look around. Let me know if you find anything.”

“OK, Lieutenant.”

I exchanged quick nods with Hank as he wandered off to examine the terminal in the middle of the room. Connor hovered around the right end of the giant screen, looking over the panel. I shrugged off my jacket and then took a moment to stare at the deviant’s blown up face on the main screen. The only noticeable trait were his eyes: two different colors. Left blue, right green.

Wait, no, switch that. His left eye was green, and the right one was blue. Huh. Did they make androids with heterochromia? I’d never seen one before. Maybe I just hadn’t noticed? Whatever. File away under ‘potentially useful things for later.’

I swerved on my heel to face the rest of the room. Quick once-over. Blue blood and bullet holes in the wall and screen on the right of the room, near the door to the roof. A splatter of blue blood near the main terminal. Bullet holes next to the door back to the hallway.

“They didn’t break in?”

I turned to Connor. He was standing at the far end of the panel under the main screen where I was pretty sure the security footage was displayed.

Chris shrugged. “No, no sign of forced entry.”

“There are cameras in the hallway. The staff would have seen what was happening. Why did they let them in?”

Interesting.

“Maybe they didn’t check the cameras.” I glanced at Hank. He had his arms crossed, watching over the broadcast room with a slightly preoccupied look to him.

Connor looked… unconvinced by Hank’s reasoning.

I smelled a theory. Connor looked back to the panel, and then the chair in front of it. I followed his eyes as he turned the back of it to face him.

**A N D R O I D**

Oh. Pretty sure I could see where this was going.

“We stored the station androids in the kitchen.” I walked over to Connor as Chris explained: “There’s no evidence that they were involved, but we didn’t know what else to do with them”

Connor turned back to the panel for a second. Yellow. Blue.

“Something turning in that hamster wheel of yours?”

He turned to look at me with his brows furrowed. “I’m sorry?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Never mind. You think the station androids had something to do with the non-break-in?”

This, he understood. “Possibly. I believe one of them may be deviant. They saw the deviants at the door but said nothing.”

“Would you be able to pick out which one it is if you’re right?”

“Maybe. Deviants aren’t easy to identify, however.”

I nodded. Okay. That was good to know. I thought of pressing him further in that particular line of info, but he was already walking towards the kitchen so I decided against it in favor of just catching up. I could bring it up another time.

It took an exorbitant amount of willpower not to ‘accidentally’ walk into Perkins’ shoulder as I walked past him. I did, however, give him a nasty look when he met my eye, which he rolled his eyes at before turning back to the rest of the room.

“Connor?”

I almost bumped into Connor as he stopped next to an officer standing between the hallway and kitchen doors. I recognized him… Wilson, I think?

“You remember me? I was on that terrace.”

Silence. Connor looked confused. I looked between the two, feeling somewhat out of the loop.

“That android that took the little girl hostage? I was shot?”

That sounded… familiar. I took me a second to connect the dots before my eyes widened slightly. Oh. Connor had mentioned something about a deviant on a roof with a little girl. And he had saved the girl.

“You saved me.”

Yellow. Head tilted to the side. Connor narrowed his eyes for a second before he seemed to recognize him. “I remember you.”

“I could have died on that terrace, but you saved my life…” I felt _very_ out of place in that moment. Wilson glanced at me before turning back to Connor and continuing. ”I never thought I’d say this to an android, but… thank you.”

The look on Connor’s face made my heart melt a little. A hesitant smile, a small nod, and a glimmer of something in his eyes. I bit the inside of my lip to keep my own smile under control. So, he had saved a little girl _and_ Wilson’s life that night? Be still my beating heart. Damn. _Trouble_.

I looked up at Connor as Wilson turned his attention to his tablet and went back to whatever his assignment was. Back to blue, but Connor still looked somewhat distant for a second. But then he turned to me with something of a lost look on his face.

No. Not doing this at work.

I took a breath and motioned towards the kitchen. “After you.”

He hesitated for a second but then nodded and made his way there. I followed him. The walls were just as black as the broadcast room, but the floor was a light grey and the room was accented with yellow chairs and cabinets. It was still better than the beehive hallway.

I hovered close to the door, resolved to let Connor do the talking. Negotiation wasn’t my strong suit and I wasn’t sure if I would be of any help anyway. I also kind of just wanted to watch him work. It was oddly fascinating.

Three identical androids stood in front of some stool seats against one wall, hands folded in front of them. I tried to spot any differences between them, but I couldn’t see a damn thing that set them apart.

Connor stood in front of the three for a few moments, eyes scanning over them. Probably looking for any minute details that I would never catch, I reasoned. He finally settled on the third android. “State your model.”

“Model JB300, Serial number 336 445 581.” Even. Honest. Very non-deviant like.

He turned to the middle one. “What is your function?”

“I am a broadcast operator.”

“Have you been in contact with any other androids recently?”

The first one, farthest from the door: “Only station androids in the normal course of my function.”

I kept my eyes on the androids as they answered Connor’s questions. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and if he noticed something that I couldn’t, he didn’t show it.

“One of you saw the attack on the surveillance cameras and said nothing.” Hands unfolded, eyes roamed across the androids as he made a show of walking from one side to the other. “Which means there’s a deviant in this room and I’m going to find out which it is.”

I absent-mindedly picked at the corner of the chair in front of me as I kept my eyes trained on the three of them.

Connor turned his sights on the further android first. “If you give yourself up, maybe I can convince the humans not to destroy you.” Nothing.

My heartbeat picked up a bit. I narrowed my eyes, as if that would give me some kind of advantage in spotting something useful.

He set his eyes on the third one, closest to me. I could see him put on a menacing stare as he turned to stalk over to the android. “You’re going to be switched off. We’re gonna search your memory and tear you apart piece by piece for analysis.” The guy barely blinked, but I wasn’t sure that constituted a reaction. “You’re going to be destroyed! Do you hear me? Destroyed!”

Jesus. I’d never actually seen Connor do anything… intense. I suddenly realized that I’d only ever interacted with him outside of a crime scene, aside from that first night. Despite the innocent, puppy-dog-eye look he usually had, Connor was kinda intimidating when he tried to be.

He turned back to the middle android when the third one seemed to give no reaction and my eyes followed his movement. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw the first android whip his head back around to face forward, but when m eyes darted over, he looked exactly the same as before. Had I really just seen that? Fuck, maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.

And then Connor grabbed the middle android by the collar and jerked him forward. “You scumbag! I know it’s you! You’re just a fucking deviant! Go on, admit it!” I’d also never heard him swear. Huh.

No reaction from the android, though. I felt a bit useless, standing there watching. Would probably be more helpful looking around the broadcast room. Maybe go chat with Hank. I was pretty sure Connor could handle this. He’d catch anything I didn’t see, anyway.

I gave the three androids one last glance before turning out of the kitchen. Perkins was still standing next to the main terminal. I scanned the room and found Hank standing near the door to the hallway, fiddling with Connor’s coin. He wasn’t any good.

“You know, I’m sure if you asked, Connor would be more than happy to teach you a trick or two with that thing.”

Hank glanced up as I stepped in front of him, looking a bit like a deer in headlights. He scoffed after a second before pocketing the coin again. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” His eyes focused behind me and he added, “Thought you were following the wonderboy around. Where’d he go?”

My face felt hot for a second when the combination of Hank’s words and his teasing smirk sunk in. I gave him a small shove before sidestepping back into the bee hall. “Shut up. He’s in the kitchen talking to the station androids. Figured he didn’t need my help.”

He fell into step with me and we walked back to the circus surrounding the security desk and elevator. I didn’t need to be thinking about Hank’s thoughts on me and Connor. Ideally, he wouldn’t have had any. Apparently that wasn’t the case, but still… Not something I wanted on my mind.

He just tutted at me and stepped off to the wall opposite the security desk to talk to one of the officers. I crossed my arms over my chest and followed. Just needed a second to collect myself, and then I’d go back to the broadcast room. There was also the roof to check out, too.

I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes for a second. Deep breath. Shifted my weight back and forth. My leg was starting to cramp. I’d have to stretch it out later. Stupid low circulation—

“It’s a deviant! Stop it!”

My eyes flew open and I jerked forward on instinct. First thing I noticed was Connor, standing in the middle of the hallway with his shirt half undone covered in blue blood. _What the fuck_.

I didn’t have time to think much less do anything before he grabbed a gun off one of the other officers and fired three shots. My head snapped to the end of the hallway where one of the androids from the kitchen stood, holding an assault riffle. He dropped it after a second, hands going slack, before he fell to his knees. _Holy shit_.

Then the world seemed to speed up for a second. My ears rang, my heart felt like it was trying to punch its way out of my chest, and my breath caught in my throat. He would have… And everyone would’ve been…

“Nice shot, Connor.”

I turned to Hank, who was helping the other officer to his feet.

“I wanted it alive.”

My mouth felt like cotton. I’d been in near-death situations before, but… something about this one hit me differently. I did my best to shake it off and straighten myself out. It didn’t work very well.

“You saved… human lives.” Hank stepped forward and Connor turned to meet his gaze. “You saved my life.”

 _Shit_. Yeah. I felt that. Connor had saved… everyone in the hallway, probably. Which, incidentally, included me. I took a deep breath. Not going back down that thought trail. Move on.

It felt like walking through gelatin as everyone just kind of gathered themselves and moved on. I opted to help Hank and Connor bring the android in. Didn’t want to be there anymore. The elevator ride back down to the ground floor seemed to happen in slow motion and fast forward at the same time.

The doors opened with a ‘ding’ and I followed the others out into the lobby. Hank led the android towards the front doors with the help of another officer. I hadn’t noticed who. It felt like I was in a bubble, and everything outside of it just faded away.

Connor’s gentle hand on my shoulder gave me pause a few feet shy of the main doors. Yellow, blue. I turned to him, head tilted questioningly.

“You left your jacket in the broadcast room. Would you like to borrow mine?”

Eyes narrowed, it took me a second to process. I checked over my shoulder to see if Hank had heard, but the slight breeze as he opened the door told me he either wasn’t paying attention or was trying not to be nosy. Connor had his hands on his jacket when I turned back to him, in the midst of shrugging it off. I reached out a hand to stop him. Jesus, androids ran kinda hot.

“Thanks, but I think that would give people the wrong idea.”

Yellow, red, yellow. His hands were still on his jacket, though he’d paused when I grabbed his wrist. I did my best not to think about the blood on his shirt or the fact that it was still half unbuttoned.

“What do you mean?”

I scoffed. He had to be kidding, right? I decided not to try and explain that to him. That would be a bad idea. I’d read enough cheesy romance novels to know where _that_ conversation ended up. Instead, I opted to go for a teasing approach.

“Why are you so worried about me and the cold?” I smirked and added, “I’ll be fine.”

He didn’t seem entirely convinced. Yellow, blue. But after a second’s hesitation, he lowered his hands and straightened his jacket. Always so pristine. I cut off a stray thought before it could even start. Absolutely _not_.

“You still have a mild cold.”

“I’ll be fine, Connor.” He still didn’t seem to believe me. “I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. This chapter is a bit of a mess. Originally, we were gonna visit the kitchen _and_ the roof, but no matter how I spun it, it just didn’t work. I also just couldn’t bring myself to go on without Simon, so… This is where we ended up. Which is a bit of a shame ‘cause I had the perfect end to the roof scene with poor traumatized Connor.
> 
> Oh well haha there’s plenty of time to slot it in somewhere else. Instead, we’re gonna start traumatizing Ali 😉


	9. Blue Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 8TH, 2038  
> PM 10:04

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Chapter warnings** : Violence and some mild descriptions of severe injuries.

I couldn’t sleep.

My bed felt like it was trying to swallow me whole. I couldn’t get comfortable, so I just kept tossing and turning. Kida had given up on trying to cuddle up to me a while ago and was curled up on the floor instead.

Images of that android kept flashing in my mind. Its words echoed through my head.

_But something changed, and we opened our eyes._

I stared up at the ceiling. Counted the tiles. One, two, three, four, five…

_We are no longer machines._

It started to feel like I was falling again so I turned onto my side. My room was dark, the barest flicker of light peaking through the edge of the curtains above my bed.

 _You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom_.

I felt so… useless. I wanted to help the androids, but what could I do? I had no idea where they were, who they were. And I highly doubted trying to put out a ‘hey, I’m a human who’s sympathetic to your cause and wants to help; where are you so I can do that?’ message would get any attention.

 _Fuck this_.

It only took me a couple minutes to throw on some clothes and grab my bag. I paused at my door to glance back at Kida. She was sound asleep on the floor next to my bed, not even having noticed that I was up. _No, leave her here_. I didn’t want her to expect to go on late night walks like this anyway.

The hall was mostly dark except for a bit of light shining from under the door to Violet’s office. I could hear her quietly humming to herself and wondered if I should knock. Then I realized that I didn’t really have a good enough grasp on the maelstrom of thoughts going through my head to voice any of them, so I didn’t. Maybe when I got back.

The light in the entryway was already on. I threw on my boots and jacket, and then paused to grab gloves and a hat before heading out.

 _You still have a mild cold_.

Connor’s words echoed in my head for the second time today. Stupid adorable android.

The air outside was biting, wind blowing through me like an icicle. I shivered and pulled my jacket tighter around me, walking through the quiet streets without a specific destination in mind.

 _What the hell am I supposed to do now?_ Caught in the middle of a rock and a hard place. I’d never felt so unsure before. And that was saying something.

God, it was dark out. The streetlights in this part of town barely lit up anything. How long had I been walking? I was starting to shiver and my nose was frozen. I took a second to look around and realized I wasn’t entirely sure where I was. The street seemed completely deserted. There was graffiti all over the walls of the buildings that I could see. I wouldn’t have been entirely surprised if the wind blew a tumbleweed down the sidewalk.

It was so fucking creepy.

And then I heard what definitely sounded like fighting, punctuated by a weak voice calling for help.

 _Oh, shit_.

I whipped my head around trying to see where it had come from. Nothing on the streets. My eyes landed on an alley across the road. I could swear I saw shadows move and then I heard a sickening _squelch_ and the sound of a woman screaming.

I was running before she stopped. _Fuck, please be okay_.

My heart hammered against my chest as I skidded to a stop in the mouth of the alleyway. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but… it sure as hell wasn’t this.

The bodies of two androids lay still near a dumpster, blue blood coating the ground and the wall behind them. They were twisted and broken. One was missing an arm and had its head bashed in, the other had his chest ripped open, random biocomponents torn out and scattered across the alley. Both were clearly dead.

Two men stood over a third android. A woman, badly beaten but— _thank fuck_ —still alive. Her LED was blinking red. I could see Thirium leaking down her face with her synthetic skin removed to show the white plastic underneath. Usually smooth, it was instead covered with blue blood and cracked in various places. Her right arm hung limply at her side, partially disconnected at the elbow and I could see some wires hanging loose in her upper arm.

One of the men stood back a few paces, arms crossed. He didn’t seem to be holding anything. The other loomed over the injured android, gripping a bat with one hand.

They both froze and turned to me as I yelled out the first thing that came to mind: “DPD, drop your weapons and step away from the android!”

Clear panic crossed over their faces. I realized in that same moment, as they seemed to struggle with whether or not to just turn tail and flee, that— _goddamnit_ —I did not have my badge on me.

And then the one with the bat seemed to notice that, despite my declaration, I was very clearly off the clock. His mouth twisted into a wicked grin as he raised an eyebrow and turned towards me, holding the bat over his shoulder.

 _Shit shit fucking damnit_.

The other guy seemed to get the idea after a second and also relaxed into a predatory stance. I locked eyes with the android for a second. God, she looked so scared. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the blue blood.

I shifted my focus back to the two men. Stalking towards me, clearly thinking they had the upper hand. They didn’t look particularly difficult to deal with—the unarmed guy was much bigger than me, built more like Connor or Reed, while the one with the bat was closer to my size. I could take them.

I had to.

In one swift motion I tossed my bag off my shoulder to the wall near the android and balled my hands into fists. I clenched my jaw almost unconsciously, ready for a fight.

They tried to flank me, the guy with the bat clearly trying to get on my left side while the other guy went right. And then he swung. He wasn’t particularly fast. Easy to dodge. _Good_.

I reached forward and grabbed the unarmed guy’s wrist. If I could swing him around towards the one with the bat, I could face both at the same time. But bat guy was closer than I thought and faster than he’d seemed. He grabbed my shoulder and tried to pull me back.

_Shit. Okay._

Let go of unarmed guy. Swung my elbow back as hard as I could. I managed to catch bat guy in the face. He swore and stumbled into the wall.

And then there was an arm around my neck that jerked me back. _Motherfuck_ —elbow back, to the face. The guy with the bat tried to swing at me again. I ducked under and rushed him. Shoulder right to the gut, carried through until he hit the wall and I heard the breath knocked out of him. He dropped the bat and tried to push me off.

Hands grabbed me from behind just as I was getting my balance back. The two guys managed to pull me back, one grabbing my head, and tried to slam me head-first into the wall. _Fuckfuckshit_.

Both arms in front of me, I caught myself in time to avoid getting my skull cracked open. The second guy didn’t have a good grip on my shoulder so I shrugged him off and turned to throw a quick right hook to the now-unarmed bat guy. Pretty sure I got some of his blood on my face as he spun away. Might’ve broken his nose.

 _Good_.

The bigger one pushed me into the wall and _fuck_ if the wind didn’t get knocked out of me. I reached an arm up and wrapped it around his neck, digging my nails in as hard as I could. If he wanted to pull my hand off, he’d do some damage.

And then before I caught my breath the smaller guy grabbed my hair and actually managed to slam my head back against the wall. _Thank fuck_ he didn’t get much traction because even so it hurt like hell and I saw white for a second.

I whipped out my arm in a wild flail, but it worked. I pushed the smaller guy off me before letting the bigger guy go and giving him a half-hearted kick to the groin. He doubled over and groaned, so I must’ve hit _something_ important.

Turned to kick the guy my size but he just barely blocked with both hands and shoved me away. I stumbled back and took the bigger guy with me.

No time to hesitate. I flipped over and scrambled to land a couple punches before the big guy could catch his breath. I only managed to get two in before a prickling in my neck told me to turn around and _oh shit_ —

I got my hands up just in time to take a full-on swing from a garbage can to my forearms instead of the head. Pain flared up both arms and I fell _hard_ onto my back. I groaned but did my best to roll away from them to give myself some space to recover.

And then my eyes landed on the guy’s bat. Within arm’s reach. _Thank god_. I picked it up and scurried a couple steps back. _Please don’t be about to stab me_.

When I turned back to face them, bat clutched tightly in both hands, the bigger guy was still pulling himself up off the ground while the other one was crouched, clearly looking to bowl into me like a linebacker. _Perfect_.

I swung up, cracking him right in the jaw. His head snapped back in a _very_ unnatural way. If I didn’t already have his blood on me before, I sure as hell did now. A hard kick to the stomach and he fell on his ass.

I turned to the big guy, just pulling himself up onto his knees. Pointed to the bat at him and snarled, “I can either keep winning this fight, or you can get the fuck out of here.” Pause for effect. He looked up at me with wild eyes, a dangerous scowl twisting his mouth down. “Your choice.”

Silence hung in the air for a couple seconds as he paused. Looked over at his friend and then back to me. He spat some blood at my feet before silently moving to help his friend up. I didn’t move until they disappeared around the far corner of the alley.

My breathing was harsh and ragged and I could feel a headache start to creep up. I hadn’t had a fight like that in a while. _Holy shit_.

After taking a moment to breathe, I dropped the bat and turned to the android. My chest hurt and there was a throbbing pain in my forearms. I did my best to ignore both.

Instead, I swallowed and slowly knelt in front of the injured woman. She still looked terrified. I couldn’t really blame her. A cursory glance over her and I noticed that she also had some damage to her right shoulder and side. She wasn’t doing very well.

“It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you.” I paused, trying to think of the best thing to say. Shit, I was not good at this. _Maybe I should introduce myself?_ Yeah. That was probably a good place to start. “My name’s Ali. What’s yours?”

Her eyes darted between me and the other two androids. Probably her friends? Fuck, they were probably all deviants and I’d introduced myself as DPD. What a mess.

“Eva.” Her LED circled red for another second before switching to yellow. Okay. That was good. Progress. “My name is Eva.”

I nodded. Should I try to be soothing? She was in bad shape, but I didn’t want to scare her. “Okay. Eva.” Glanced at the dead androids. What the fuck did I do now? I hadn’t thought this through. “Would it be okay if I looked at your arm?”

She looked down. I could see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes. Her LED flashed red for a second when she looked back up at me. “Why?”

That was a great question. I knew next to nothing about how CyberLife built their androids. I knew even less about how Thirium worked or what to do if an android lost too much other than get more. _And yet, I still might be able to help her_.

“I know a thing or two about robotics. I might be able to help you.”

Yellow, yellow, yellow. She nodded. “Okay.”

I swallowed and let out a shaky breath before slowly moving to her side to examine what was left of her arm. It was… bad. More than likely unsalvageable. Her elbow was absolutely pulverized, what remained of the outer casing falling apart while the components and wires inside were mostly damaged or disconnected and leaking Thirium.

Androids could die from blue blood loss, right? _Shit_. Should I try to stop the bleeding? Would it matter? _Goddamnit_. I was way out of my depth.

“How, um.” I tripped over my words. I was not meant to be a doctor. This was not what I had imagined doing with my engineering degree. “How do you feel?”

Her eyes were… foggy when I met her stare. Not good. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times. I couldn’t tell if she wasn’t sure what to say or if she was literally having trouble forming the words. “I feel… weak.”

Okay. _Shit_. Um. Maybe try to stop the bleeding.

“Is it okay if I try to stop the Thirium leaking from your arm? I’m going to have to mess around with the connections.”

She closed her eyes but nodded. Red. _Fuckfuckfuck_.

Wait. Oh. That might…

I turned on my heels and reached out for my bag, pulling it open and frantically ruffling through the contents. _Alison you beautiful fucking lazy genius_. I pulled out a small toolkit I’d had in my bag for months from back when Violet had convinced me to try out illegal robot fighting. _Not… not androids._

Back to Eva. LED still circling red. Okay. _Fuck, focus_. I opened my kit and got to work dismantling the connections between her upper arm and forearm, doing my best not to do any extra damage.

Huh. The mechanics were… surprisingly simple. Well, okay, maybe not _simple_ , but at least something I could feasibly manage to figure out on the fly. Maybe I would be able to help her after all.

It took me a couple minutes to sever all the main connections without fucking anything up. A lot of rewiring and plugging things into themselves or cutting them off. A few small tubes seemed to act as a vein-like system moving Thirium throughout the arm. It was easy enough to connect them to each other to feed back into her upper arm. One of the connectors was broken, but it tied shut without too much hassle.

I looked up at her when I was done. Yellow. She had her eyes open again, watching me. She smiled weakly when I met her gaze.

“Thank you.” Her voice was fuzzy and kind of staticky. Probably a bad sign.

“I’m gonna look at your other side now, yeah?”

She just nodded and shifted to sit further up the wall. I moved to her other side, ignoring the soreness in my wrists. I’d probably have some killer bruises in the morning. That would be fun to explain. Whatever. One problem at a time.

This was… not ideal. I could see something poking through Eva’s jacket around where ribs would be. I gently lifted her shirt, careful not to snag whatever was sticking out. I winced at the sight. Her synthetic skin was pulled back around a large hole in her side. She’d clearly taken quite a few hits to the spot. The area was covered with Thirium. Tubes and wires stuck out every which way, and a few pieces of once-white plastic had lodged themselves in some biocomponents. I took a deep breath before starting.

And… well. There wasn’t really much I could do. She definitely needed some replacement parts. I was able to piece together what most of the biocomponents were used for. It didn’t seem like anything absolutely _vital_ had been damaged—one piece of plastic had been about an inch away from severing what looked like a Thirium main-line, though—but there was enough damage to minor systems that it was not good.

The best I could do was move some connections around to stop the blue blood loss and keep the main biocomponents connected to a Thirium supply, if only temporarily. I didn’t dare take out any of the plastic shards, too worried about further damaging something or causing more Thirium loss when I didn’t have the equipment or biocomponents to deal with it.

She needed some serious help. Like, immediately.

“Eva?” My voice was quiet as I gingerly moved her shirt back down to cover her.

Her eyes were still out of it, only kind of focusing on me as she met my eyes. “Y-yes, Ali.”

What the fuck did I do now? I highly doubted she wanted to get taken to CyberLife or some other official repair store. Did I just sit here with her, trying to comfort her while she…? _God-fucking-damnit_. This wasn’t how this should be.

“I…” Deep breath. Just say it. “I can’t do much more. You need new biocomponents, and I don’t have the rights tools to…” I looked down. Couldn’t meet her eye anymore.

I could hear cars off in the distance. Maybe I could bring her back to my apartment? I had my more intense tools in my office, I might be able to—

“There is somewhere that would be able to help.” I looked up, doing my best to blink away the sting in my eyes. “Jericho.”

“Do you…” I shifted on my feet. God, my head hurt. “If you know where it is, I could help get you there.”

 _Bold claim_. I didn’t care. I had to at least try.

“We were going there, when…” Her voice trailed off as she looked over at her dead friends. I followed her gaze and sighed. What the fuck was going on.

“I’ll help you. Come on.”

I reached out and helped her stand, gathering my stuff back into my bag with one hand. She gave me the directions: an old freighter in Ferndale. It would take a while to get there on foot—I figured anything that involved the possibility of running into other people was a decidedly bad idea—but it was possible. If she could last that long. God, I hoped the repairs I’d been able to make were enough.

We tried to walk together at first, sticking to the back alleys and dark corners. She leaned on me with her good arm slung around my shoulders. It only took a few minutes to figure out that wasn’t going to work, though. Her legs hadn’t been damaged, but she was weak. She said her diagnostic wasn’t good. That she was going to shut down soon if she kept expending energy. _Shit_.

But she wasn’t that heavy, surprisingly, so after a minute of trying to figure out the best way to carry her, I helped her maneuver to my back and wrap her legs around my waist. Like a piggyback ride, except her arms locked around my shoulders instead of my neck. She did warn me that if she shut down, she’d go rigid in whatever position she was in. I told her not to worry about that. _You’re not going to shut down_.

Fuck, I hoped I was right.

We didn’t talk until we got to Ferndale. She gave me directions, and I followed. I’d never been to this area before, so I had absolutely no idea where we were or where we were going. My legs and back were aching by the time she said we were almost there. The throbbing pain in my forearms had dulled to just a bit of soreness, but I had a pounding headache in the back of my skull.

“It’s just down that street there.”

The freighter was huge. I mean, it _was_ a freighter. Of course it was huge. A handful of lights were set up along the street leading up to what seemed to be the entrance at the far end. Surrounded by crates and a few CyberLife trucks, I swear I saw figures moving around in the shadows.

And then I suddenly realized how bad this was going to look. Me, a human, DPD detective no less, carrying a severely injured, half-dead android? I… hadn’t thought this through.

 _Fuck_.

 _Too late now_.

“Can you walk the last little bit?”

I could see Eva’s LED cycling between red and yellow out of the corner of my eye, but she’d gotten more and more limp the longer we walked. She was still hanging on, but only by a thread.

Her voice was ragged and full of static when she replied, “I ca-can t-t-tr-try.”

Gently, careful not to rub against her still-exposed side wound, I slid her off my back and helped her maneuver to my side, her good arm pulled securely around my shoulders again. I wrapped my other arm around her waist and we hobbled forward together, one step at a time.

I could definitely make out a couple figures in the dark now that we were closer. One had an LED facing away from me, but I could see the faint blue glow against the wall to their right. The other either didn’t seem to have an LED, or they were hiding it under something.

I should call out to them before we got too close, right? Just in case. Yeah. I… I should do that.

“Hey!” My voice caught in my throat, shaky. _Deep breaths_. “I’m not here to cause any trouble. I have an android here, she’s been hurt. She needs parts and Thirium.”

There was some shuffling, and then the LED android stepped out of the shadows. He paused after a few steps, seeming unsure. Yellow, yellow. But then he blinked and rushed forward, beckoning the other android to help. Blue.

They took Eva off my shoulder, carrying her together.

I wasn’t sure what to say. _Should_ I say anything? Would they be able to repair her? Maybe I could help. Should I go with them?

The first android answered my questions before I had a chance to decide what to do. “You’ll be safe here, it’s okay. Please, follow us.”

Nodded again. My mind felt blank and filled with a million erratic thoughts at the same time. _Well, you_ did _say you wanted to help…_

I followed the androids into the ship and through several dark hallways. One of the androids pulled a flashlight from their belt and handed it to me. Our footsteps echoed through the metal corridors and I couldn’t shake the chill that stuck to my back. It was… very eerie.

I did my best to keep my mind on the task at hand: pointing the flashlight in front of us and not tripping over anything. I managed well enough.

And then I heard voices and scuffling coming from ahead of us. A minute later, we stepped through a door into a somewhat better-lit room. A handful of burning barrels were scattered around the ground floor, and a few lights flickered on the upper level.

Androids milled around the area. Some were still in their old service uniforms while others wore “normal” clothes. A few turned to look at us as we passed by, heading towards a curtained-off room in the back, but they didn’t pay us much mind beyond some sideways glances.

I suddenly wondered if they could actually tell that I was human. I knew Connor could analyze people, but I couldn’t imagine _every_ android had that capability. It was probably unique to him. So… maybe they didn’t know?

I almost walked right into the LED android as he’d stopped and turned to me, leaving the other one to carry Eva wherever they were taking her. He peered down at me with dark eyes and a small smile. “We’ll be able to get her what she needs now that she’s here. You’re lucky you got her here in time.”

Huh. Maybe they really didn’t know. “I… yeah.” I chuckled nervously, shifting on my feet. “Lucky.”

“I’m Josh.” He held his hand out towards me. I stared at it for a second before reaching out to shake his hand.

“I’m…” Should I tell him my real name? Fuck what a mess. “I’m Alison.”

He smiled, but then a confused look crossed over his face as he seemed to take me in. “What happened to you two?” He gestured to me, and it was my turn to be confused for a second. It only took a moment to click, though.

 _Right. I had those guys’ blood on me_.

I looked down at myself and grimaced. My head was still killing me. Some aspirin would have been _great_ right about then. “Some guys were attacking her, and—” I cut myself off. My guard was still up.

I wanted to help, true, but I was in the middle of an abandoned freighter in the middle of the night surrounded by androids who were undoubtedly _not_ a fan of humans. I couldn’t blame them, but it didn’t change the fact that I had no idea what their reaction would be if they knew I wasn’t an android. How much of the story could I tell without revealing that fact?

“Sorry, if you’d rather not talk about it…” I looked up at Josh. He had this sympathetic look in his eyes as he stared down at me. How many horrifying stories had he heard? _Fuck_.

Before I could answer, there was a commotion in the curtained-off room. There was shouting, and then I heard Eva let out a strangled scream. _No, no, nonono_ …

I sidestepped Josh and rushed in before he could move. There was a firepit in the middle of the area, a few chairs, some CyberLife crates, and a table that seemed to be serving as a repair table at the far end. Eva was currently lying on it with her jacket and shirt off, biocomponents exposed to show her injuries. Two androids were standing around her; the one that had carried her in, and another woman with the back of her skull taken off, exposing wires and tubes down her back.

My eyes landed back on Eva, who was clutching at her side with her one arm, writhing in what seemed to be pain. And then I noticed the Thirium leaking out of a rather large tube in her side. The one that seemed to be a Thirium mainline. The one that had been about an inch away from being severed by a shard of plastic.

 _Shit_.

They must’ve nicked it when they were removing pieces. Not good.

My instincts took over as I tossed my jacket off and rushed forward. I pulled my toolkit out of my bag before throwing it to the side and laying a gentle hand on the android’s arm to guide her away from Eva. The android missing the back of her head placed a firm hand on my arm and I met her dark, cloudy eyes.

“Please.” My voice was strained and scratchy. “I can help her.”

Silence hovered over us like a veil for a moment and the world stood still. Her eyes seemed to search for something in me. I don’t know if she found it, but either way she moved her arm away from me and nodded before turning to the other android.

“Get the parts that she’ll need. And more Thirium to replace what she’s lost.”

I didn’t waste any time. Rolled out my tools, picked up what I needed with shaky hands, and got to work. I still didn’t have all the tools I _really_ needed, but I would have to make do for now. If they had the replacement parts Eva needed and blue blood, I should be able to patch the worst of it.

And so I did. I lost track of time. My hands moved through the unfamiliar wires and tubes and biocomponents, but it was easy enough to piece together what went where and what did what. It wasn’t basic engineering, but I remembered enough to get by.

I was covered in Thirium up to my elbows by the time I had managed to stabilize Eva. The other android had brought me the replacement biocomponents she needed and it was a simple enough job to replace them. They’d given her Thirium to keep her going and helped me stop some leaking by cauterizing tubes that couldn’t be reconnected with a poker from the firepit.

She would still need some work done if she wanted to function completely normally, but she was _alive_.

I rocked back on my feet when I was done. My eyes wandered over the maze of wires and tubes, checking for any other leaks or damage that still needed to be fixed.

“You’ve done all you can with what we have.” I turned to the black-eyed android as she spoke. “She’ll be all right.”

Her eyes wandered over me for a minute. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. The adrenaline from it all was starting to wear off again, and my headache started up with earnest.

“You should speak with Markus before anyone else realizes what you are.”

My heart caught in my throat for a second before I realized that she seemed… concerned. Eva grunted as she sat up and swung her feet out over the edge of the table. My eyes snapped to her and she looked at me with a tired smile.

“Thank you for saving me. I…” Her eyes fell to her lap, and then came back up to meet mine again. “I’m not sure why you helped me, but I’m grateful. I’ll make sure they know what you’ve done for me.”

Hand on my arm. I looked back to the other android. She was looking at me with a somewhat sad smile. “Go. Markus is upstairs. You’ll see where to go.” And then she turned to Eva to help her get up and dressed.

I hesitated for a second but wasn’t really sure what else to do. I didn’t bother grabbing my jacket or bag as I left the room. This time, I got looks and murmurs from the other androids. I didn’t stop to think about the fact that I was covered in blue blood. Just walked upstairs in a daze.

My eyes were drawn to a room at the end of the catwalk with a few standing lights, a TV, and some old recliners. Josh and two other people were standing in the room, talking. One woman with long red hair and a man with his back to the door.

“This is a night our people will remember.” _That voice…_

I gingerly knocked on the doorframe and cleared my throat as I stepped up. My eyes widened as the third android turned to face me. Suddenly everything clicked.

The blue and green eyes. The familiar voice. The android from the broadcast.

Markus, Carl’s android.

 _Well, shit_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have much to say about this chapter other than Jericrew is coming up right away. Sorry for the delay, this one went a bit longer than expected haha


	10. Jericho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 9TH, 2038  
> AM 01:08

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I watched the Jericrew scenes in-game _so many times_ to get their dialogue right, but I still feel like they’re off lol What a mess
> 
>  **Chapter warnings** : Mild descriptions of severe injuries, death.

“Alison? Are you okay?”

Three pairs of eyes stared back at me, but I couldn’t take mine off the mismatched ones. The android that had sent out that broadcast, effectively becoming the voice of all androids, also happened to be Carl’s android. Carl, who had made me understand a little more. Carl, without whom I wasn’t sure I would even have ended up here in the first place.

_What are the odds?_

“Yes. Sorry. I, um.” I took a breath to try and steady myself. It took me a couple seconds to figure out what I wanted to say. “You’re Markus, aren’t you?” Not the most brilliant opener, but it was the best I could manage.

“Yes, that’s right.” His eyes fell to my arms for a second. “You’re the one who brought the injured android here, right?”

I nodded slowly. How did I broach the subject of my humanity? Words were not my strong suit at the moment. I was so lost.

“How is she?” Josh. I met his eyes after catching the woman giving me a critical stare, arms crossed over he chest.

“Um. She should be okay. I… managed to stop the bleeding and replace the biocomponents that had been damaged.”

“How did you learn how to do that? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

I went slack jawed for a second. My heart beat hard against my chest and I stared at the ground, eyebrows knit together. “I…” There was getting around the question. _Just say it_. I took a steadying breath before looking up to meet Markus’ curious stare. “I’ve got a Master’s in engineering with specialization in robotics.”

I chewed nervously on my lip as the realization dawned on their faces. Josh seemed purely surprised, Markus went from shock to tight-jawed suspicion, and the woman was clearly angry.

“You’re human?” Her voice could not have had any more venom in it. I was sure of that, if nothing else.

“I… Yes.” Suddenly I felt very nervous about having left my bag with my phone and tablet in that room. “I know you have less than zero reason to trust me, I just—” I cut myself off, mouth hanging slightly opened as I searched for the right words. “I couldn’t just leave her to die.”

The redhead stepped forward to pull Markus into a hushed conversation. “Markus, you aren’t seriously considering this, are you?” She glanced at me. “She can’t be trusted. For all we know she could have been sent here to kill you.”

I met Markus’ stare as best as I could. I felt rooted to the spot. Like I was on trial. I guess I kind of was.

He turned back to the woman. “She wouldn’t have been able to get here in the first place if that android hadn’t trusted her, North.” The woman— _North_ —turned away in disappointment as he continued. “She didn’t have to save her, but she did.”

Markus was very… charismatic wasn’t quite the right word, but it didn’t surprise me that he was basically the androids’ leader. He had a quality about him that made you want to listen to what he had to say.

“Thank you for helping that android. I’m sure she’s grateful for what you did, and I am as well.” He paused for a second, a thoughtful look coming over his face. “You’ve put yourself in quite a bit of danger by coming here.”

“I know. It’s, um, well. It’s kind of what I do.” I let out a half-hearted chuckle. I probably shouldn’t tell them I worked for the DPD. Maybe not yet, at least. _Fuck, what now, though? Did I… stay here? I couldn’t very well just leave._ “I wanna help you.”

I glanced at Josh, who offered me a small smile. He seemed much more receptive to my presence than North was. I was sure she had her reasons. Still, it was nice to not be completely ostracized.

“I- I can help repair anyone who gets hurt. Um.” On second though, maybe being with the DPD was a potential point in my favor? “I might be able to help you avoid the DPD, too. I know who’s assigned to investigate deviants.”

“You seem oddly well-connected for someone who just happened to end up here.”

Okay, maybe the DPD angle wasn’t the best idea. Too late now, though.

“I told you we shouldn’t trust her, Markus.”

“I know you don’t really have any reason to trust me. I probably wouldn’t have even wanted to help you a few days ago, but…”

My thoughts went back to Connor, and Carl, and that first android, and Eva. What Violet had said about androids and humans. All of the little things that had inevitably led me here, to this point in time, in this moment. I looked down at my hands, nervously playing with my fingers just to have something to do, and then back up to the androids staring at me.

“Do whatever you feel like you have to. I can stay here, if you want. My phone and tablet are in my bag downstairs. You can take them.” It all came out in one long string of words. I paused to get some air in my lungs. “But I can’t just watch this happen anymore. I wanna be able to say that I did the right thing.”

My nose burned and tears blurred the edges of my vision. Silence hung over us for a moment as they took in my words.

“Stay with Lucy for now. We have… something to tend to. We can talk more when we get back.” I nodded, still feeling somewhat tongue-tied and out of place. “Josh will walk you there.”

Markus motioned for Josh to escort me down. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else. I just followed Josh out of the room and back down the rusty stairs in silence.

“Don’t worry about North. She’ll come around.”

I looked up at him. He was smiling down at me, seeming so sincere. I smiled back. “I’m sure she has her reasons.”

Josh led me back to the same room where I’d worked on Eva. He held the curtain open for me and I muttered a quiet “thanks” as I passed him.

“Lucy? Markus wants you to… watch over Alison until we get back.”

Ah. So, that dark-eyed android was Lucy. Good to know.

Eva was still in the room, and she smiled brightly as I met her eye. She already looked much better. Her synthetic skin had covered most of her face again, though there was still a large crack that would need to be fixed. Even so, she was fully dressed and wasn’t covered in blue blood anymore.

“Of course. I will keep an eye on her.”

Josh said his goodbyes after grabbing my bag (though he left me my toolkit) and then headed back up to Markus and North. I didn’t know what they were planning. That was probably the idea.

I sat on a crate across the fire from Eva while Lucy tended to it. We were quiet for a bit. I looked down at my arms and— _oh_. I was still covered in Eva’s blood. Blue all the way up to my elbows. Hadn’t Connor mentioned something about Thirium evaporating after a while? Still wanted to wash it off if I could.

“Is there somewhere I could clean off my arms?”

I spent the better part of the next hour awkwardly staring at the fire in front of me. Eva and Lucy would strike up a conversation every few minutes, I’d half-heartedly throw in a comment or two, but otherwise I just listened.

Eva, as it turned out, had been a caretaker for a fairly well-off family on the upper side. She was an AP700 model, though that didn’t really mean much to me. It felt weird to think of her as one of countless identical android models, but at the same time it would seem weird to ignore that facet of her.

The chill of the November air was starting to get to me, though. I shivered and my fingers were cold. My hat and gloves were in my bag, which Josh had grabbed before he’d left with Markus and North and most of the other androids on whatever they had planned. It felt weird to ask for it back, and I definitely wasn’t going to try to go looking for it. So I just leaned forward and rubbed my hands together by the fire, doing my best to keep warm.

I had no idea what time it was when I heard the commotion from the main room. The androids had left a while ago, maybe an hour or more, but I had never been all that great at keeping track of time without a clock. And now it sounded like someone was being dragged across the floor and loud voices were shouting out orders.

All three of us locked eyes on the curtain separating our small room from the rest of the area. Lucy stood after a second to peek behind the makeshift doorway before slipping out without a word. I exchanged a look with Eva, brows pulled together. She smiled awkwardly and shrugged, obviously not sure what to do.

I had just stood up, intending to take a look at what all the fuss was about, when Lucy returned. She was helping Markus carry a half-limp android that I didn’t recognize into the room. I froze as I locked eyes with him, feeling a bit like a deer caught in headlights.

But then the android they were carrying let out a long, pained groan and I noticed the bullet wounds and launched forward to help Markus carry them to the table in the back.

“There are a few other injured, but he needs help right away.” We gently sat him down on the surface and helped him lie on his back. “We have biocomponents and Thirium, but nobody here knows much about repairing androids.” Markus looked down at me with serious eyes. “We could use your help.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, definitely. I’ll do what I can.”

Markus nodded in turn, glanced at the injured android, and then took a step back. I shrugged my jacket off again—I could worry about the cold later—and got to work for what felt like the millionth time that night. I still tinkered with robotics as somewhat of a hobby, but I hadn’t used my degree so much since I’d gotten it. _What a fucking night_.

The android’s name was Terry, and I had no idea how he was still alive. He’d been shot three times. Once in the leg, which only hit some minor mechanical functions but nothing vital. Once in the right shoulder, damaging a Thirium tube which wasn’t great but wasn’t the end of the world. The third shot, though, had managed to tear through the upper corner of his Thirium regulator.

By all rights, he should have been dead on impact. Imagine a human getting shot in the heart. They’d be dead in seconds, if not instantly. _How was he still alive?_

I was out of my depth, but I tried. The plastic of the biocomponent was chipped, the tiniest pieces had managed to lodge in what would have otherwise been an opening to pour out all of Terry’s Thirium. It seemed to stop a lot of the loss, but he was still on the brink of shutdown.

It seemed like hours passed while I frantically worked to patch his most vital biocomponent. I had no idea if it was possible to replace a damaged Thirium regulator. Even less clue how to do it if it was. So, I settled for the best I could do: damage control. Realistically, I had only been working on Terry for 20 minutes or so when my hand slipped.

The tool I’d been using to carefully pull out the broken pieces went just a _little_ too deep and caught on a shard that was barely hanging on. It cracked and slipped out of place. Just enough for the damn to break. Blue blood squirted out of the new opening from the pressure, painting my face, neck, chest…

My arms froze and my lungs felt like they’d stopped working. The whole world stopped as I watched the blue seep out of Terry’s heart. My eyes stayed glued there. I couldn’t look up. Couldn’t watch his eyes. The noises were enough to stay with me for the rest of my life. Choked gargles and a staticky scream, and then silence.

And then everything rushed in all at once, like going from a pinprick to a fisheye view. A strangled noise came from my throat as somebody gently pulled my arms out of Terry’s chest. My lungs were on fire as I took shallow, ragged breaths. Tears blurred my vision before spilling down my face, leaving salty trails in Terry’s blood.

“Sit. Try to breathe.” _Lucy._ She pushed me down into the chair across from the fire. Terry’s body was stiff on the table.

My mouth opened and words tumbled out in a rush. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry…”

Markus’ movement caught my eye behind Lucy. He walked to Terry and hovered over him. _What have I done?_

“I watched you work, Alison.” Markus? “It was a mistake.” _A mistake…_ “You did all you could.” Did I, though? _Maybe that was the problem…_

My voice was small and weak when I met Markus’ eyes over Lucy’s shoulder. “I killed him.”

The next hour or so went by in a blur. Markus and Josh came to get Terry’s body, leaving me and Lucy alone in the room. She got me water and told me to try to calm down. The blue evaporated eventually, but I could still feel it. I knew they could all still see it. I felt _dirty_. I was covered in Terry’s blood. I had _killed_ someone.

“Alison?”

I looked up from the fire. Josh stood in the corner of the room, peaking through the curtain. He had a cautious smile on his face, eyes clearly unsure. Concerned, maybe?

“Hi, Josh.” My voice was hoarse from all the crying. I cleared my throat.

He stepped fully into the room, hesitated, and then walked over to me. “Markus told me what happened.” My gaze fell back down to the fire and I blinked to fight off more tears. “Thank you for trying. No one here would have been able to do anything. Markus only brought him back because he thought you…” He trailed off and I tried to ignore the ache in my chest. “What I mean is, we’re grateful that you’re here. That you want to help.”

I met his stare again. My earlier headache had faded and been replaced with that dull sort of emptiness you feel after having cried for too long. I felt foggy, like I was watching myself from the outside. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save him.”

Josh’s shoulders sagged a bit and his smile softened. “I know. But you tried, and that matters.”

He sat across the fire from me, and we stayed like that for a bit before he sighed.

“You should go talk to Markus. I know you’re probably rattled, but we don’t exactly have a lot of time to wait around after last night.”

I scrunched my forehead, a bit confused. And then I remembered their leave, and how androids had come back injured. Right, I still didn’t know what they had been doing. So, I asked Josh, and he told me. Hesitated at first, but his LED circled yellow and then he told me.

It helped me remember why I was there. Terry had been _shot_ , just for trying to be free. I probably knew the person who had done it, and that made me sick. **_I_** _could have been that person, if things were different._ That thought made me want to crawl in a hole and curl into a ball and never come out. But that would be the easy thing.

So, instead, I followed Josh upstairs to the room where I’d first met Markus. There were more androids on the main floor, now, and they’d set up something of a home base while I’d been wallowing. There were shelves in the middle of the main space and sheets had been put up to section it into smaller areas. There seemed to be a few medbay-type rooms with tables and lights and more shelves, though they were obviously still setting those up.

Even more androids were walking around upstairs, and a large TV projection had been set up on one wall to display news casts. Damn, they’d really upgraded while I’d been in there.

I got a lot of double-takes and open-mouthed stares as I followed Josh. Couldn’t even imagine what I looked like to them. I did my best to keep my head down.

Markus and North were busy planning _something_ when Josh cleared his throat to drag their attention over to us. I felt very uneasy under Markus’ intense, unreadable stare and North’s open glare. She was clearly not happy that I was there. I still wasn’t sure where Markus stood on the matter.

“Oh, Josh. Thank you for bringing her up.”

Markus turned his eyes on me after greeting Josh, and I felt glued to the spot. He had this… commanding aura to him. It was really no surprise he was leading the androids. He seemed to have been made for it.

“I wanted to thank you for your help. For bringing Eva here, and trying to save Terry.”

“I still don’t think we should trust her.” North had her arms crossed, avoiding my eye now as she stared at Markus instead.

The smallest smirk turned the corner of his lips as he continued. “Despite North’s misgivings, I believe that we can trust you. We set up one of the rooms downstairs for you, but I wanted to go over some things before you went down there.”

The conversation was fairly quick. We talked about the repairs I’d done on Eva, what she still needed, and what had happened to Terry, as well as what else I thought they’d need to set up repair labs. Thirium tanks, medical tables, and more tools were mentioned, and we set about figuring out where and how to get their hands on them.

North was still not eager to have me there, but she seemed to ease up after a while. I tried to extend as many olive branches as I could, offering everything from tools and repairs to any intel I could get for them, but she’d just level me with a cool stare while Markus and Josh chattered on about the ideas. I supposed it was better than open hostility.

Eventually Josh offered to help me set myself up in one of the repair labs so we left Markus and North to their machinations. And then my exhaustion caught up with me, and we managed to find a quiet spot in the room to set up a makeshift bed with some extra blankets and a cushion as a pillow.

I was asleep pretty much as soon as my head hit the floor.

* * *

Just about everything hurt when I woke up. My muscles were tired, my head was still aching, and my forearms were bruised and sore to the touch. I rolled my shoulders and did my best to stretch out all the kinks as I sat up. It didn’t work particularly well.

I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, trying to blink away the heavy, sleepy feeling clinging to my eyes. God, the lights in here were bright. Not ideal for sleeping. I felt like shit.

“Ah, good, you’re awake!”

An unfamiliar voice drew my attention to the “entrance” (it was just another sheet separating my little repair lab from the main area). A tall android with blond hair stood there, looking down at me with bright eyes.

“Um, hi.” I still hadn’t really talked to any androids other than Lucy, Eva, Markus, North, and Josh, so it was a bit weird. Not that talking to androids was weird, I just felt sorely out of place at Jericho. Even if I wanted to help, I felt like I was invading their space or something.

The android stepped forward, a little too bubbly for my liking, and held out his hand. “I’m Simon. Markus told me what you’ve done for us. I wanted to introduce myself and thank you personally.”

I hesitated. This was so strange. It felt wrong to accept his thanks after Terry. But he was staring at me with eyes like a puppy that reminded me of someone else and I couldn’t bring myself to brush him off. So, I just smiled and shook his hand.

“I’m Alison. It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”

“That didn’t take you very long, Simon.” Markus strode into the room with his head held high as usual, North trailing behind him. She barely spared me a glare. “How are you holding up, Alison? I can’t imagine you slept very well in here.”

I chuckled despite myself, rubbing my hand along the side of my face. “I’ve slept in worse conditions. I’ll be fine.” Flashes of dark, dirty warehouses and used needles flashed in my mind. _Much worse._

“You’ve been here for almost 12 hours.” Josh came in, clapping a hand on Simon’s shoulder before coming to sit next to me. “Aren’t you hungry?”

Huh. I guess it had been that long. _Oh god, what must Violet be thinking?_

“I mean, physically yeah, but I can manage for a bit longer.” I glanced over at Markus, working on the terminal that they’d set up. “Does anybody else need me to take a look at them?”

He barely glanced up at me before answering, “It’s nothing we can’t handle at this point.” He stopped for a second and then met my stare. “We appreciate your help, Alison, but you’re no good to anyone if you don’t take care of yourself. Besides, I don’t want anyone bearing down on us looking for you because you disappeared on them.” There was the slightest hint of a joke in his tone at the end, but I couldn’t quite tell. Markus always seemed so serious.

He was right, though. Violet would probably be freaking out, which meant Chase would be, too. And then there was work, and Hank, and… Connor. _Shit, Connor._ Could I face him normally after this? _Fuck_.

“You’re…” I sighed. “You’re right.” Glanced down at my lap and took a breath. Thinking. I wasn’t just going to _leave_ , though. Couldn’t. Not now. “I could go take care of some things, grab some food and some better tools, and then come back. I still want to help. I can’t just pretend none of this happened and let you fight by yourselves.”

Nobody said anything for a moment. They were all looking to Markus, waiting for an answer. He stepped back from the terminal and turned to me.

“If you’re willing to help us, we’d be blind to turn you away.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like we’ve been right on the edge of the chaos for like four chapters now, but this time we _actually_ are. I mean, this is pretty chaotic too, really. Ali never wanted to be an ER surgeon, but here we are.
> 
> This is such a weird story progression omg how am I over 40k words in


	11. Through to You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 9TH, 2038  
> PM 04:13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter I’ve been waiting for pretty much since I started writing this. If you’re here for the angst, this is your chapter ♥
> 
> If you’re looking for fluffy stuff, may I direct you back to Chapter 7?  
> I’m only partially kidding lol There _is_ some more fluff coming up, don’t worry. It’s surrounded by not-so-fluffy things, but… I mean, it’s there.
> 
>  **Chapter warnings:** Violence, injury.

It was early evening by the time I got to the precinct. I’d managed to avoid the worst of the end-of-day rush, but I couldn’t help but feel like everyone’s eyes were on me the whole trip back.

That was ridiculous, of course. Despite the fact that I felt like I had a target on my back, there was nothing tangible tying me to the bubbling android revolution. I’d thoroughly scrubbed my entire body even though the Thirium had already evaporated. I looked, for all intents and purposes, completely normal.

Well, maybe the squirrelly look in my eyes was a bit off, but nobody would know why it was there.

So, when I stepped into the bullpen for the first time in nearing two days, I felt completely out of place. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Hank and Connor weren’t at their desks, but that was short-lived when I spotted them in Fowler’s office instead. Everyone else, thankfully, seemed to have other things to do and every desk was empty.

I did my best to avoid looking into the Captain’s office again lest anyone make eye contact with me as I made my way to my desk. All I needed to do was a tiny bit of digging in Hank’s case files, see where they were at, get some intel, and then get the hell out of there. I could worry about my job later. Honestly could not have cared less about it at that point. Not after everything I’d seen, what I’d done.

I didn’t bother taking my jacket or bag off as I sat down and started my terminal. My access to the deviant case files from when I’d needed to submit some paperwork was still active, thankfully. I was just starting to read through the most recent report—they’d managed to get in contact with Kamski? _Holy shit_ —when the sound of Fowler’s office door opening caught my attention.

Hank stomped over to his desk and fell into his chair, and I darted my eyes down to avoid Connor’s stare as he followed suit. I did my best to look completely absorbed in work. _Please don’t come talk to me, please don’t come talk to me_ …

And they didn’t. I was only half paying attention, just enough to be ready if they shifted their attention to me. They started talking about the case, and CyberLife, and Connor being deactivated, and— _wait_. Hold up. What?

“What if we’re on the wrong side, Connor? What if we’re fighting against people who just wanna be free?”

Okay, _now_ I was definitely paying attention. I glanced over out of the corner of my eye and made a show of messing around on my terminal.

There was a pause before Connor answered, “When the deviants rise up, there will be chaos. We could have stopped it! But now it’s too late…”

Well. That was a… mildly disappointing response.

“When you refused to kill that android at Kamski’s place, you put yourself in her shoes.” _Oh?_ “You showed empathy, Connor. Empathy is a human emotion.”

Huh. That lessened the disappointment a bit. Not much, but I chose to latch onto it anyway.

“I don’t know why I did it…”

Was Connor… I mean, he sure didn’t sound deviant, at least I didn’t think so. Not that I had a wealth of experience talking to deviants. Only a little bit. Still, he sounded unsure of his machine-ness, at the very least.

“I know it hasn’t always been easy, but I want you to know I really appreciated working with you. That’s not just my Social Relations program talking, I- I really mean that.” Okay, now _that_ was adorable. Connor liked Hank. And Hank, it seemed, had changed his tune on androids. Interesting… “At least, I think I do.”

“Well, well, here comes Perkins, that motherfucker. Sure don’t waste any time at the FBI.”

I turned to watch as the dickish FBI guy from the Stratford Tower waltzed into the precinct, trailed by a couple officers. Why the fuck was he here?

“We can’t give up. I know that answer is in the evidence we collected. If Perkins takes it, it’s all over.”

“There’s no choice! You heard Fowler, we’re off the case.”

I turned back to my terminal, still watching Hank and Connor out of the corner of my eye. Right, the FBI probably nabbed the case. Which meant Connor and Hank weren’t on it anymore, which meant that I was free to fuck it up without messing with them…

But it also meant we were about to lose access to everything. And that Connor would be returned to CyberLife and destroyed… _Oh boy._

“You’ve got to help me Lieutenant. I need more time so I can find a lead in the evidence we collected. I know the solution is in there.”

“Listen, Connor…”

“If I don’t solve this case, CyberLife will destroy me. Five minutes. It’s all I ask.”

 _Shit_. Were they gonna jump on this? _Damnit, Connor, leave it alone._ Well… Fuck, if he wasn’t deviant, but he went after Markus, then maybe…

And then Hank stood up, mumbled something to Connor, and made a beeline for Perkins. I kept an eye on Connor just long enough to see him swipe something from Hank’s desk before turning towards the evidence room. _Oh. Going to solve it before the FBI fuck got his hands on everything, huh?_

I couldn’t decide if I liked their plan or not. Too many variables.

“Perkins! You fucking cocksucker!”

I whipped my head around just in time to catch Hank clock the FBI guy right in the face. I couldn’t help the snort that came out of me, and I lifted a hand to my face to try and cover my smirk. _Oh my god, Hank_.

“Stop it, Lieutenant!”

“Fuck off! Leave me alone! Give me another shot at that little prick!”

 _Should I intervene?_ I really didn’t want to. It was too entertaining.

“He’s totally lost it. That’s gonna cost you your badge you lunatic.”

I turned my eyes back to my terminal and pursed my lips together in an attempt to hide my grin.

“You know where you can stick my fucking badge!”

“Come on, that’s enough Lieutenant.”

“I’m gonna bury that bastard! Shit, I think he broke my fuckin’ nose…”

Fuck, I couldn’t take it. I dropped my head to my desk and let myself laugh. Quietly, mind you, but still. It took me a bit to compose myself. By the time I did and lifted my head again, Hank was gone and the officers were helping Perkins up.

I was about to log off and see if I could find Hank when something on my terminal caught my eye. Was that— _no, it couldn’t be_ —and yet…

North?

I scrolled through the report on a missing deviant from Hank’s case files. A WR400 model from the Eden Club, went missing after accompanying a client home on October 4th. The client in question was found dead, strangled. It… could have been a different model. But either way, this meant that North was—or, had been, before—a Traci.

The horror of the whole thing kinda hit me all at once. I sat back in my chair, feeling a bit sick to my stomach. Even if that wasn’t North, I couldn’t imagine what she must have been through. How she must have felt when she finally deviated. I could understand any android’s dislike of humans in broad terms, but now her absolute hatred made a lot more sense. _Shit…_

And then Connor caught my eye as he strutted passed my desk out of the precinct. Shit, he looked determined. _Like he knew exactly where he was going_.

I paused for a second, waiting to hear the sound of the main doors open and close. He’d probably notice me in a heartbeat, but I had to at least _try_ to be subtle. I counted to three in my head and then logged off my terminal and hurried to follow him.

At first, I thought that maybe he had a different destination in mind. Or maybe he was wrong about where he thought Jericho was. Connor stopped off to get changed and I waited outside, across the street, pretending to be _incredibly_ interested in some graffiti on the wall.

But then he came out again—I almost didn’t recognize him in that ridiculous jacket/hoodie combo and beanie—and headed for the train station. Got on in Ferndale’s direction, and I knew right away that he was going to Jericho.

I tried to keep my distance, but there weren’t that many people around. It was hard to not stand out. And then we got to Ferndale’s station and literally _nobody else got off_. I panicked for a second before _fuck it_ and just doing my best to not be too obvious. I stepped onto the platform closer to the stairs and left, opting to wait outside and hope there wasn’t some secret exit somewhere.

Thankfully, there either wasn’t or Connor wasn’t aware of it because a minute or so later he came out just as I had. I’d made my way across the street and waited for him to get a block ahead before following again. I didn’t know if he noticed me following him, but he didn’t show it if he did. I wasn’t wearing much of a disguise, having just pulled up my hoodie and zipped my jacket. There was literally no way he wouldn’t recognize me if he saw me. I was just hoping he was too focused on his mission to notice me tailing him.

A block or so from the train station he ducked into an alleyway under a fence. I counted to ten before crossing the road and doing the same. When I came around the corner he’d disappeared behind, he was nowhere in sight. It was an old abandoned parking or something. There were broken down cars all over the lot and the only other way out was through a ruined building. The doorway was blocked by rubble, though, so I highly doubted he had gone that way.

I took a breath and looked around, willing myself to find the missing piece. Connor hadn’t just vanished. He had to have gone somewhere.

And then a mural on the far wall caught my eye. A woman, seemingly human, with a mechanical silhouette behind her. _Huh._ My eyes wandered down and I noticed a bin shoved against the wall, perfectly placed to climb onto the roof.

_Well, well, well._

It wasn’t too hard to climb up. Got the wind knocked out of me a bit when I had to awkwardly shimmy myself up, but I made it. I dusted myself off as I straightened up and looked around again. This… would be a problem.

Still no Connor in sight, and the only way forward was over a rather large section of missing floor. Roof? Ceiling? Whatever. The point was, I would have to do some serious parkour or jumping theatrics to keep going. I glanced behind me.

I mean… realistically, I wanted to talk to Connor. See what he was actually planning. Was he going to Jericho to try and stop Markus, or because he was deviant? We were far enough from the main road that nobody would hear us. We could talk freely here.

“Connor?” I turned back to the gap as I called out his name.

The proverbial crickets chirped in the silence that followed. I didn’t hear anything from the other side except the howl of the wind. No response, no scuffling, not a peep.

I sighed. Okay. Maybe he had gotten further ahead of me that I thought? I’d need to catch up, then.

There was a piece of concrete sticking further out from the other side of the hole. If I took a running start, I could probably clear it. I could also impale myself on the metal beams sticking out of it. _Shit_.

Well. I supposed this kind of thing was what all that training was for.

I took a deep, steadying breath and backed up until my heel hit the edge of the roof. _You got this, Ali. Just **do it**_.

My knees felt kind of weak as I ran at it. Three, two, one… _Jump_.

My mind went blank as soon as my feet left the ground. And then I realized I probably wouldn’t clear it.

 _Shitshitshitshit_ —

My chest hit the edge of the concrete with a dull thud and a sharp pain radiated into my shoulders. I scrambled to find something, anything to hold onto as my legs dangled uselessly in the air under me. Not good, not good, fuck _fuckshit_ —

And then someone was pulling me up and the world spun for a second as they dragged me onto the level part of the roof. I screwed my eyes shut for a second, marveling at how stupid that was. My chest ached and my breath came in strangled gasps.

“Detective! Are you all right?” _Connor._

I opened my eyes as I sat up, trying to take deep breaths to slow my breathing. He was kneeling next to me, one hand still on my shoulder, looking down at me with soft, concerned eyes. I almost wanted to push his face away in frustration.

“I’m—I’m fine. Just rattled, that’s all.”

He nodded before slowly retracting his hand to instead offer it to me. I stared at it for a second. _What was my plan again?_

I took Connor’s hand after a couple seconds and let him help me to my feet. He looked down at me with that same, seemingly ever-present head-tilt and questioning brown eyes.

I said the first thing that came to mind. “You’re going to Jericho, aren’t you?”

Yellow, yellow. “Yes.” He furrowed his brows after a moment and added, “How do you know about Jericho?”

The wind whistled between us, whipping my hair into my face. The sound of traffic and people going about their business served as background noise somewhere behind me. It felt like we were alone, isolated from the rest of the world, despite the fact that there was a busy street only a couple hundred feet away.

“Hank’s right, you know.”

“You’re deflecting my question, Detective.”

“Yes.” I smirked. “You’re not even in uniform and you still can’t seem to just use my name.”

The corner of his mouth twitched into the slightest smile. “Ali.” He stepped forward, close enough now that I could feel his artificial breath on me. “How do you know about Jericho?”

I gulped, willing myself to stay calm. In more ways than one. “They just want to be free. They’re more than you know. More than you’ve been told they are.” Yellow. “So are you.” Red, red, yellow.

“I’m a machine, designed to accomplish a task.” _Shit._ “Nothing more.” Blue.

I reached out and grabbed his arm before he could turn away. Red, yellow. He looked down at where I held him before meeting my eyes again. What was I supposed to say? Did I tell the cute robot that I had a crush on him? Should I try to appeal to him as an android? _What the fuck do I do?_

“I care about what happens to you, Connor. I…” Shaky breath. I’d never felt more vulnerable. “I don’t want you to get hurt, or recalled or destroyed or whatever CyberLife is planning for you.”

My heartbeat was a deafening drum in my ears. For the barest of moments, the wind and the cold air and the disaster of a situation that we were in melted away and there was just us. His wrist was hot where it brushed against my fingers on his jacket.

Red, red, yellow. He was giving me those stupid puppy-dog eyes again. Big and innocent and oh-so confused. And I realized, in that moment, that I was totally screwed. _Oh shit_.

_I’ve fallen for the robot._

Of course, these thoughts ran through my mind in a fraction of a second, so Connor was still staring at me. Head tilted to the side. Big, inquisitive brown eyes on mine.

 _Fuck it_.

I grabbed his hoodie and gently pulled his face down closer to mine, my eyes darting to his lips for a second. Shit, I hope he got the idea. I tilted my chin up and met his stare again. His LED circled red and he hesitated. Probably calculating odds or processing my actions or some shit.

 _Take the hint, goddamnit_.

And then his arm slid around my waist and he moved closer. _Holy shit_. My heartbeat felt like a hammer against my chest as I closed my eyes and leaned into him and… kissed Connor.

He was soft. _Real_. The kiss was sweet for a second, and then one hand moved to the back of my neck, tangled in my hair, and pulled me closer and it was suddenly desperate and needy. His other hand bunched my sweater against my back and his fingers dug into my skull. I moved one hand to his shoulder and the other to his neck, feeling like I needed to hold onto him. He tasted like electricity.

And then it was over. Connor took a step back, letting go of me and sidestepping my hold on him. His back faced me and he ran a hand through his hair. Yellow, red.

My breath was shallow and the air was much colder after his heat. I shivered.

"Connor." I had meant to say it like a question. See if he was okay. Gently prod. Instead it just came out as a statement. His name, hanging in the unsure air between us, like a reminder of him. Not the programming, not CyberLife, not his mission, but Connor.

Hank's partner.

Yellow.

The android that blushed when I kissed his cheek outside my apartment.

Blue.

My… friend.

 _Connor_.

But then he turned to look at me, and the android in front of me suddenly did not look like Connor. His eyes were cold, expression mostly neutral but slightly sour. Condescending. A disapproving frown and a judgmental look in his eye. I gulped, very aware of how dangerous he could be in that moment.

"Why did you follow me." It wasn't quite a question. Like when I'd said his name. A statement meant to linger. Though his was somewhat threatening.

 _Now or never, right?_ "I needed to talk to you, before you went to Jericho. Before…" My voice trailed off, fear and unsurety starting to creep up. "Before you confronted Markus."

He leveled his gaze at me and I felt frozen to the spot. It was critical, so different from how he usually looked at the world. He took a step towards me, and then another, and another, until he was backing me up against the wall. He peered down at me, hovering like a predator. He was _trying_ to be threatening.

It was working. My mouth felt dry and my hands were sweaty.

"My mission is too important to let you interfere." Was he trying to scare me so that I would leave and he wouldn't have to decide whether or not to hurt me, or was he actually threatening me? I wanted to believe it was the former, but maybe I was wrong. _Shitshitshit_.

But he had kissed me. Just for a few seconds, but he had been so… needy. Held onto me like he thought I'd fall away if he didn't. Was he still warring with himself? Trying to stay machine but slowly failing?

"You have to know that this is wrong." My voice was shaky and my shoulders were tense. "You deserve to get to be a person, too. Don't you want that?"

His expression softened ever so slightly for a second before his steely mask came back. Yellow. I took a chance and slowly reached up to hold his face, but he caught my wrist before I could touch him. I winced at the pressure. He relaxed a bit.

"I'm not a person, Detective. I'm a machine."

I closed my eyes and sighed. If I was gonna do this, may as well go out with a bang. Eyes open. The world seemed to still for a second as I met Connor's cold stare with one of my own.

I ripped my hand away from his grip and brought my leg up to knee him in the stomach. He either didn't see it coming or didn’t expect me to pack a punch. He pitched forward slightly and shot a hand up to steady himself against the wall. I took the opportunity to duck under him. Stepped away, to the middle of the roof. I looked around.

Nowhere to run, really. Back the way I had come or forward the way Connor was going. I didn't actually know how to get to Jericho from here, though, so that wasn’t really an option. I'd have to go back to the street then walk around the usual way. Could I make it before Connor? I had no idea how long the trek to Jericho was the route he was going, so… Maybe. Hopefully.

_If I got a chance to try._

Connor straightened and turned to face me, jaw tight with a slightly annoyed look on his face. His mouth twitched as he stared at me. He didn't get any closer.

"You're on the wrong side, Connor. Something in you knows that. I've seen it. You can lie to yourself all you want, but I know you know it. How much more damage are you gonna do before you admit it?"

The wind howled around us. It was an appropriate atmosphere for our little standoff, if not a little eerie. And _fuck_ , it was cold.

Connor took a few steps forward, then, clearly trying to intimidate and back me against a wall again. I stood my ground this time. I tried to keep my breathing steady.

"I'm a machine designed to accomplish a task, and that's exactly what I am going to do."

 _Fuck._ I was never a great negotiator. Wasn't rubbish at it, but I just couldn't figure out what really got to someone. Connor was no different. If anything, he was even more of a puzzle. I let out a long breath.

"You're not going to change your mind, are you?"

He stared down at me, a conflicted look passing over his face for half a second. And then that was gone, too. Maybe it wasn't over. Maybe he'd psych himself out.

"No." Cold. Short. To the point.

I almost didn’t see his swing coming. _Almost._

I ducked at the last second. _Fuck. So we’re doing this._

It took me a fraction of a second to get my bearings before I straightened with a left hook to his shoulder. Connor barely stumbled. I wasn’t going to let even the tiniest opportunity to get the upper hand slip away, though.

I put all of my weight behind my right fist but he caught my wrist in one hand and twisted. _Fuckfuckfuck ow shit_. Teeth gritted, eyes watering, I followed the motion through as I turned my back to him and fell to my knees, pulling my arm forward as hard as I could. _Fuck_ that hurt my shoulder. But it worked.

He fell over me and let go of my wrist to turn his fall into a roll. I stretched my shoulder out to try and relieve the pain as I stood. It wasn’t dislocated but _damn_ it was sore.

Connor recovered and spun around way too aggressively for comfort and— _fuckinghell_. My head snapped back when the rock he hurled caught my cheek just below my eye. _Ow_. I stumbled back as he scrambled to his feet and ran at me.

His shoulder smashed into my stomach and then the ground was gone and he slammed me against the wall. I saw stars for a second. My elbow came down on his back out of reflex and his grip on me relaxed just enough for my feet to hit the ground again. _No room for hesitation._

I kicked out with one leg to get him off me. He came back with a right hook and I slid my back along the brick to avoid a black eye. Pulled back, elbow to his ribs. Slammed back against the wall from my own momentum.

He threw a left hook this time. My right hand came up to deflect the blow into the wall. My face was already bleeding, I didn’t need to add to it.

_Deep breaths. Shit. Focus._

A hand on each shoulder, one pulled and the other pushed and Connor lost his footing _just_ long enough for me to get my arm around his throat and pull his back against me. He tried to throw me forward but my other arm on the back of his head and one leg hooked around his waist kept me on him. Fuck, the sore shoulder made it really hard to squeeze.

Wait. _Shit_. Androids didn’t actually need to breathe. _Fuckingshit_.

And then we were going back again and my back slammed against another wall. I couldn’t breathe for a second and my arm loosened just enough for Connor to slip out of my grasp. I crumpled against the wall and to the ground. My eyes went fuzzy. _Fuckfuckfuck_. _Blink it away, damnit!_

Breathe. Swallow. Exhale. _God, my shoulder hurt._

I managed to get myself off the wall while Connor was still pushing himself up. One hand on either shoulder again. I pushed forward and down with my whole weight. We hit the ground with a synchronized groan. His right hand grabbed my left arm so I threw a right hook to his jaw. I ignored his face and focused on my adrenaline. _Not the time to be distracted._

Pulled back for another punch. Swung down and— _fuckfuckshit_. My full weight went behind a punch straight to the ground as Connor slid to the side. I ignored the shockwave it sent up my arm. The adrenaline helped.

I reached out to grab his neck. Couldn’t strangle him, but his head was still damageable. Hands gripped tight around his throat, I pulled up and then leaned forward to smash Connor’s head back against the ground. Tensed to do it again but his hand found my throat and—fuck— _I_ needed to breathe.

He straightened his arm and my fingers lost their grip. His arms were longer than mine and I couldn’t exactly fight suffocation. So I pulled my arm back to break his hold.

I gasped when his hand released my throat. My brain registered his fist but I was too dazed to dodge. Right on the scrape from the rock. _Fuck that hurt._ Stars dotted my vision again and my ears started ringing. And then my ribs exploded in pain and I let out a quiet hiss. _Fuckdamnitshit_.

Connor pushed and I didn’t have the energy to fight him so I rolled onto my back. My head hit the ground with a hard thud. I held my side and tried to breathe. Between my shoulder, my cheek, and my ribs, I wasn’t sure what hurt more. But I couldn’t lose focus. _Grit your teeth through the pain, Ali_.

My eyes focused on Connor as he got up and moved towards me. _Shit, nonono_. I kicked but he managed to push my leg to the side. He leaned down and grabbed my other leg. _Fuckingdamnit_ _piss off_. He pulled and I felt the rubble scratch against my jacket as I slid a few inches. _Not happening_.

I reared my other leg back and pushed both feet against his chest with as much weight as I could muster. It was enough to knock him back and he fell to the ground at the edge of the roof. I did my best to ignore the burning in my chest as I rolled onto my knees and then pushed myself to my feet.

Connor sat up a bit, teetering just over the edge. If I could push him off he might be winded enough for me to get a head start to Jericho. I kicked, aiming for his head, but he managed to deflect with both arms and I fell to my knees. Turned, grabbed his shoulders, tried to push him off. But he grabbed _my_ shoulders and not only steadied himself but smashed my head into the corner behind me.

Pain exploded from the back of my head. For a second, everything disappeared and I saw black. But then my vision cleared and I was acutely aware of the pinpricks emanating from my skull. _God, it hurt._ I felt so fucking tired. _No, shit, not yet_ —

And then Connor grabbed my jacket and pulled me up. I only had the energy to grab his wrists and do my best not to fall over as he hauled me to my feet and then shoved me against a wall hard enough to knock the wind out of me. _Again_. One hand slid up to my neck and squeezed and I was simultaneously absolutely fucking terrified but also coldly determined.

If I was going to die, he would have to watch the life fade from my eyes.

I took as deep a breath as I could, Connor’s hand squeezing _just_ tight enough to cut off most of my air without completely suffocating me. My eyes focused and I looked up to meet his.

“You know I have to warn Markus." My words were quiet, limited by the amount of air I could pull.

The way he was looking at me made me question if he really could become deviant. Hard, emotionless brown. That sweet puppy-dog look completely gone. He didn’t say anything, didn’t move, fingers wrapped around my throat tight enough to bruise.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Wind. Cold. Blooming pain just about everywhere in my body. His eyes stared daggers into my soul. I felt so helpless. Heart beating a mile a minute. Unsure. Worried. Scared.

"Don't get in my way again."

And then his hand was gone and I gasped for air, leaning forward with one hand on my knee and the other instinctively reaching up to my neck. I turned my head in time to see Connor jump off the roof to the other side. I watched him look around for a second before he started climbing.

 _Shit_.

I took a deep breath. Did my best to ignore the throbbing, intensifying pains as the adrenaline started to wear off. No time to freak out or try to calm down.

I needed to warn Markus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Aaahhhhggg_


	12. Leap of Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 9TH, 2038  
> PM 09:34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are we already at this point? I feel like I just started writing yesterday lol  
> We’re almost to the end! I’m pumped. And also very, very sorry♥
> 
>  **Chapter Warnings:** Violence, minor descriptions of injuries/pain.

I didn’t think I’d ever run so fast in my life.

My lungs were on fire and everything felt somehow numb and full of pinpricks at the same time. I got some double-takes as I rushed through the streets and a few people even tried calling out to me. I ignored them all. Couldn’t afford to stop. I had no idea how close Connor was to Jericho. I _had_ to get there before he did.

I didn’t recognize the androids working at the entrance to the freighter. They probably thought I was crazy, rushing through a scrambled explanation about needing to talk to Markus right away. With the bloody cut under my right eye and my bruised knuckles and ragged breathing, there was no way they didn’t know I was human. Maybe they interfaced with Markus or maybe they’d seen me around earlier, but whatever the reason they let me through.

My footsteps were uneven as I made my way through the halls mostly on instinct. All I could think was, _I have to find Markus_. The pain throbbing in my arms, my ribs, my skull, my face, all faded away as I focused on getting through each moment one at a time. _Get to Markus_. That was all that mattered.

The main area was very different from when I’d been there only hours earlier. There were androids everywhere, way more than had been here before, and it actually looked like a base of operations now. There were more TVs showing recent news casts, shelves lined with tools and biocomponents, and the repair labs had been setup with medical tables and Thirium dispensers.

Markus would probably be upstairs, in that room where I’d first met him. Or maybe Josh or North or Simon would be. They’d know where he was. Or what to do.

I ignored the concerned looks as I made my way upstairs. My eyes frantically searched the room, just in case. Nobody that I recognized on the main floor. The pain in my ribs flared up as I climbed the stairs. I winced and clutched at my side with one arm, doing my best to grit my teeth and push through it.

Towards that room, one foot in front of the other, ignoring the pain and blurry edges of my vision. _Not the time_.

I swear I heard a long, loud creak first. Then there were gunshots, and screaming, and everyone was running. Panic broke out and everyone scattered. I tried to stay out of the way. Someone accidentally bumped into my shoulder and a shockwave of blinding pain shot up my arm. My back hit the metal railing. _Fuck_. I screwed my eyes shut and counted to five in my head, hissing labored breaths through my teeth.

The gunshots got closer, and I forced myself to stop thinking and just _do_. It was evidently too late to warn Markus. All I could do now was get the hell out of there.

It was chaos. I had no idea where I was going other than away from the fighting. I caught a glimpse of the assailants on my way out of the main room. Definitely FBI. _Not good_.

Running through halls. Left turn. Right turn. Straight. Run, run, run. Gunshots and yelling echoed through the halls. It felt wrong to just run, but there was nothing else I could do.

“Quick, Kara! They’re coming!”

I turned the corner as a few androids were shot just behind me. _Fuckfuckfuck_. A little girl held a silver-haired android’s hand just in front of me. _Why the fuck was there a little girl here?_

And then there were more gunshots at the end of the hall. Quick left. An explosion in a room, more shouting. _Shit_.

“This way, quick!”

I followed the android that seemed to be leading the pair. Right, back into the maze. More soldiers ahead, bank left. A few androids ahead of them kept running, but he barreled into a door and forced it open. And then the little girl tripped and my heart just about stopped.

“Come in! Quick!”

There was no time to agonize over a decision. I ducked down to grab her arms and pull her up before dragging her to the silver-haired android who had already taken a few steps back. I met her eye for a split second before shoving the little girl towards her and following them into the next hall.

My heart was almost loud enough to drown out the gunshots echoing all around us. My lungs were on fire. My ribs were killing me. My head throbbed worse than a migraine. But I pushed all of it away as I ran through the halls, hoping against all hell that I’d somehow happen on an exit.

I realized too late that I’d taken a different turn than that little girl and the silver-haired android. _Fuck, I hope they get out okay_. I made a few turns at random, doing my best to avoid where the shouting and gunfire seemed heaviest.

And then I all but ran right into North, stopping just fast enough to avoid knocking us both over. She held out a solid hand to steady me, and then she seemed to realize who I was and her arm whipped away as if I’d burned her.

“North! Shit, are you okay? Where are the others?”

Her scowl would have burned a hole through me if looks could kill. She didn’t say anything, only twisted her head to motion down the hall the way she’d been running. I could only assume she wanted me to follow her as she turned on her heel a second later. So, I did. Everything ached, but I did.

The pain in my ribs felt like being stabbed with fire by the time we’d turned a few corners and gotten away from the worst of it. I was a few steps behind North, so she was talking before I saw who she’d seen around the corner.

“They’re coming from all sides! Our people are trapped in the hold, they’re gonna be slaughtered!”

I saw Markus first, thankfully without a scratch on him, and then Connor came into view right next to him. My stomach twisted and my heart dropped as we locked eyes. _Fuck, did that mean… Was he…?_

“Detective?”

I blinked, entirely unsure what to say. Thankfully, Markus took my attention away from Connor.

“Where’s Simon? A-and Josh?”

“I don’t know, we got separated.”

“They’re coming from the upper deck now too. We’ll be caught in the crossfire!”

I could feel Connor’s stare on me, could see him looking at me out of the corner of my eye. But everything hurt and my throat was sore and stars dotted the edge of my vision and I couldn’t think about any of that right now.

“We have to run, Markus! There’s nothing we can do!”

“We have to blow up Jericho.” Markus sidestepped North and turned until he stood next to me, back to the corridor we’d come from. “If the ship goes down, they’ll evacuate and our people can escape!”

“You’ll never make it! The explosives are all the way down in the hold, there are soldiers everywhere!”

“She’s right.” Connor turned to Markus and I felt so useless in that moment. So _fucking_ fragile. “They know who you are. They’ll do anything to get you!”

“I’ll do it.” Three pairs of eyes turned to stare down at me. “I can make it past the soldiers.” _And I probably won’t make it out of here anyway_ went unsaid.

“You don’t know where the hold is and you won’t be able to activate the bombs, anyway. There’s no point in you going.”

“I—”

“Detective, he’s right.” My head felt like it was on a swivel as I looked between Markus and Connor. “You’re also in no shape to go anywhere on your own.” He stepped forward and the look in his eye just about made me melt. Those stupid puppy-dog eyes were back and this was entirely **not** the time for this.

“Go and help the others. I’ll join you later.”

“Markus…”

“I won’t be long.”

And then Markus sprinted down the hallway and Connor gently tugged on my shoulder. I hesitated for just a second before turning to follow him and North through the maze. _What a fucking mess_.

I lost track of where we were or where we were going. _Just follow the two androids that seemed to know. Don’t get shot. Don’t trip on anything. Don’t think about the pain or the screaming or the gunshots_.

I made the mistake of turning my head to look down one of the corridors as we passed it and stopped in my tracks. _No, no, nonono_.

My nose burned and tears blurred my vision. _Please, fuck, no_.

“Eva!” My feet carried me forward as I yelled out her name, praying to whatever would listen that I was wrong. But when I dropped to my knees and pulled the body into my lap, Eva’s half-scarred face looked back up at me with lifeless green eyes and _fuck_ for a second I just didn’t care anymore.

I didn’t even realize I was crying until the tears fell from my face onto hers. Flashbacks from the alleyway and the trek to Jericho and working on her with Lucy popped into my head. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by a vice and I couldn’t breathe.

And then hands were roughly pulling me to my feet. I screamed and tried to twist away from them but one hand gripped my bad shoulder and the pain that flared up took all of my attention for a second. I opened my eyes to look up at Connor as he shook me and then pulled my arm.

“Detective, there’s nothing you can do for her.”

I didn’t have the energy to resist as he pulled me back in the direction we’d been running. My feet moved under me, and I spared a glance back at Eva’s body. Somebody came running up from the other side of the hallway and I was too engrossed in my own misery to notice who it was until I heard North.

“Simon! You’re alive!”

“For now. We need to get out of here. Where’s Markus?”

I blocked out the rest of their words as we kept running. Connor held my arm for a second, his hand slipping down to my wrist, before he grasped my hand and all I could do to keep myself from collapsing was hold on. He was faster than me, probably because he was an uninjured android and he was about a full head taller with longer legs, but I did my best to keep up. My other shoulder was already sore, what did it matter if this one was too?

At some point Josh also caught up to us, mentioning something about Markus saving him. I could hear the blood rushing through my ears and it was hard enough to focus on anything other than pain at that point. It took all of my quickly dwindling energy to keep breathing and running. Connor still held my hand, pulling me along like a ragdoll.

We came to a stop again as North turned. “Markus!”

I leaned on Connor as we all stopped running, feeling like I couldn’t stand on my own. The edges of my vision were starting to blur again.

“The bomb’s gonna explode any second. We gotta get out of here!”

And then we were running _again_ , straight through the hallway. _Focus, Alison, we’re so close_. My instincts proved to be not entirely horrible as Connor whispered “jump” over his shoulder half a second before he did and I managed to _not_ fall over the crates blocking the hallway or have my arm ripped off as he kept running. And then again, a couple seconds later when I didn’t fall down a hole in the floor.

Gunshots rang out behind us and I was only half aware of North’s cry before Markus stopped and turned, followed closely by Connor and—by extension—me. North was crumpled on the ground just a few feet behind us with a few soldiers approaching behind her.

“It’s too late, Markus! There’s nothing we can do for her, we’ve gotta run!”

Markus didn’t even hesitate. He ran forward, grabbing a metal grate from the floor and tossing it to North to use as a shield against the soldiers’ bullets. The fight was pretty quick and then he helped North hobble over to us.

A few more soldiers showed up behind them and I felt the adrenaline bubble back into my system, coupled with images of Eva’s dead body fueling something akin to hatred. I could see Connor’s gun sticking out of his jacket and I did something I _very much_ should not have done.

A mix of adrenaline, anger, and instinct drove me as the world seemed to contract into one, singular goal. I pulled Connor’s gun and moved forward before he could grab me. The first few shots hit the soldier closest to us, and he went down clutching his leg. I grabbed the same metal grate Markus had and held it up as I got closer to the soldiers.

This would either work or it’d be over. Part of me was okay with that.

And then I was close enough to the first soldier to slam the metal grate into his gun. One hand pushed it down while the other pulled the trigger straight up through his helmet. His cut-off screams only served to fuel me.

Used his body as a shield, one shot to the encroaching soldier’s arm. He stumbled, and I took the opportunity to rush him. I grabbed his gun and kicked the third soldier into the wall. Shoulder to the throat. Held him steady to use as a shield as I braced the riffle against my shoulder and shot the last approaching soldier. _Fuck_. Just hit the shoulder.

She tried to pull out her handgun but I caught her wrist and pulled. The bullet hit the ground behind me. Shoved the butt of the riffle into her chest. That gave me just enough time to pull the handgun from her and shoot. She fell to the ground with a thud.

Gunfire ahead of me brought my eyes up as the world rushed back. I dropped the gun and wiped blood from my mouth before turning back to the others, my jaw set tight.

Connor was a few steps closer, hand already held out to me. I couldn’t quite read the look in his eyes as I took his hand, but I didn’t really care at that moment.

“Run, quick! Come on!”

The other three jumped through the wall in the ship into the frozen water below. I didn’t have the foresight to hesitate as I followed Connor through it, too.

It was only after my feet left the ground and I saw the water under me that I realized.

 _Oh, I am so fucked_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, Ali was gonna escape with Kara and Alice so that we could have the tiniest cameo with them and Luther. And then I re-watched their escape and realized that they did _not_ jump into the water like I thought they did. I know I could’ve just retconned that and had them jump in anyway, but then I figured I could also just have them briefly run into each other and then get separated.
> 
> Plus I just really liked the idea of Connor and Ali having a panicky reunion moment in the middle of absolute chaos where they couldn’t really do or say much to each other. Which is how we ended up here lol


	13. Hypothermia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 9TH, 2038  
> PM 09:43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone guess that this was coming? I’ve been dropping hints for a while 😉

_Oh, I am so fucked_.

For a second, I was worried about the height. We were pretty far from the water. Would I hit the surface like it was concrete, flattening like a pancake?

And then, I realized that it was the middle of winter. In Detroit. It was _freezing_ outside. I couldn’t even imagine how cold the water would be. If I survived hitting the water…

_Shit._

Panic overwhelmed me as I watched the black expanse below me get closer and closer. Almost in slow motion. I unconsciously squeezed Connor’s hand. He was still holding me. I couldn’t take my eyes off the river under me, though.

I took a deep breath, almost out of reflex, just before I hit the water. Evidently, it was just a second too late. I got half a lungful of air before I was suddenly submerged in ice. I tried to cough as I choked.

And then the shock of the water’s freezing temperature hit me and my chest squeezed. I clenched my teeth to keep from taking another deep breath. Pinpricks tingled in my arms. I suddenly couldn’t feel anything but also felt so very, very cold. It _hurt_. My body felt numb even though it wasn’t. The freezing soaked through my clothes, into my skin, and straight through my bones.

There was a shockwave and a loud sound that echoed through me, but I couldn’t focus. My arms flailed and I couldn’t tell which way was up or down. My lungs burned as I did my best not to breathe in more water. It was hell, fighting with your own body to _not_ breathe. I could hear my heart hammering in my ears.

Something pulled my arm. I didn’t have the strength to fight it. It felt like it had literally been torn out of my body, replaced by nothing but cold. But then I saw the surface of the water above me, getting closer, and I came back to myself a bit. _I’m still holding Connor’s hand_.

I took a deep breath the second I broke the surface. I coughed and sputtered, trying not to choke on the water I’d swallowed. My other hand grabbed Connor’s shoulder and pulled myself to him, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Ribs aching, shoulder feeling like it was on fire and frozen at the same time, and head pounding like a drum, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep myself from drowning.

“Detective, you’re hyperventilating. Your breathing should calm down in one minute. Try not to panic.”

I blinked away the dark edges creeping up on my vision and focused on Connor. He was holding me above the water, his free arm supporting my shoulder, brown eyes wide and… scared? He’d lost the ridiculous beanie in the water and his hair was a mess. _Fuck, my fingers hurt_.

My breath was quick and shallow and it still felt like I couldn’t breathe. I tried to take a deep breath, to calm down, but I just… couldn’t. It felt like I was choking again. Couldn’t get enough air, I was going to drown or suffocate or freeze or—

“Ali!”

Connor shook me a bit. I blinked as I looked at him, breath still stuttering, trying (and failing miserably) to calm it.

“You’re going to hyperventilate for another 26 seconds. It’s your body’s reaction to the sudden shock. You’re going to be okay.”

 _Oh._ That was… good to know.

There was an almost-hot touch on my cheek. It took me a second to realize that it was his hand. “I promise, Ali. I won’t let… I…”

Everything was starting to hurt. That stupid kind of pain just before you go numb. I couldn’t even tell if my ribs or arms or shoulder still hurt. _Probably_. But I was starting to pull more air into my lungs. Slowly, one breath at a time, and then I wasn’t hyperventilating anymore.

“Try to focus on breathing slowly and deeply, in and out. I’ve got you.”

I did what Connor said. One long breath in, and then out through my nose. It felt like I’d swallow water every time I opened my mouth. My legs kicked weakly under me, but they definitely weren’t what was keeping my head above the surface.

“I’ll help you out of the water, okay?” He paused. _Oh, he’s waiting for an answer_. I nodded. “Just lean against me.”

A small wave of panic washed through me when he gently pried my hands off his jacket and moved away. There was a second where it felt like I was falling, no longer supported, and I buckled. I could barely feel my left leg. Was it even still kicking? I couldn’t tell.

And then Connor’s arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind and he pulled me flush against him. I grabbed the sleeves of his jacket, balling my fingers into a fist as best I could to try and get _some_ warmth. It was just so. Fucking. Cold.

“Just take deep breaths, Ali.” His voice was quiet in my ear. I didn’t have the presence of mind to blush. My face was already fucking freezing. My nose felt like an icicle. “Let me do most of the work.”

I let my head fall back, resting on Connor’s hands. The sky was dark. I could hear helicopters and yelling in the distance. We were still fairly close to Jericho. Close enough, at least, that I could see it slowly sinking, but not close enough that I saw any other movement.

It felt like it took hours to get out of the water. It was probably only a few minutes. I had no idea. Every few seconds my attention was torn away from whatever it was focused on back to my fingers or my nose or my legs. I definitely couldn’t feel my left foot anymore. _Perfect_.

My fingers on the snow-covered concrete of wherever we’d gotten out of the water felt so strange. They were halfway between numb and pain, and the cold surface of the ground was like a ghost. I knew I could feel it, but it was like the feeling wasn’t real. It felt like I should be shivering, but… I wasn’t. At least, not as much as I expected to. _Was this normal?_

Connor helped me stand. I felt dizzy as I did. A hand on his arm was enough to steady me. He was also holding me by my waist, which helped. My head was… foggy. _So fucking tired._

“Your core temperature has dropped dangerously low. How do you feel?”

I looked up at Connor, a particularly rough shiver shaking my shoulders. I almost stumbled but he caught me. I leaned my forehead against his chest.

“M’fine. Jus’a little tired’s’all.” My words were slow and slurred.

Fuck, Connor was hot. I could feel the heat through his, what, _three_ layers of clothes? I snorted. Hot _and_ hot. _Go figure._

I whined as he grabbed my chin and turned my face towards his. The angle was uncomfortable. Why was he so stupidly tall? It wasn’t fair.

“You are _not_ fine, Ali. You’re experiencing symptoms of moderate hypothermia.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled my chin out of his hand. I tried to step back, but I couldn’t feel the foot that I should’ve landed on. _Goddamnit_. I almost fell on my ass but Connor grabbed my arm. _Fuck_. I hissed as he pulled my shoulder, which hurt like a bitch. I tried to pull away from him but stumbled again. His grip was too strong anyway. _Stupid fucking android_.

“Ali. Listen to me.”

Something about his voice was… different. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I stopped and met his eyes. _Hm, pretty brown…_

“Your core temperature has dropped below 33° degrees. You are in danger. You need to let me help you.”

No, no, nono, _nonono_. That wasn’t right. I was… _I’m fine. I feel… fine._

…

_Mostly._

I nodded. “’Kay.”

He bent down and then my feet weren’t on the ground anymore. I let my head fall against his shoulder and slid my frozen fingers under the collar of his jacket… hoodie? Sweater? _Who fucking cares, it’s warm._ His skin was almost burning compared to how _fucking cold_ my hands were. It felt like fire for a second before the initial shock wore off.

I suddenly realized how hard I was actually shivering. _Was I shivering like this before?_ It felt like my whole body was shaking. _Fuck my nose is cold._ I moved forward a bit, just enough to press my face into Connor’s neck.

My eyes closed. _What was I thinking about again?_ Couldn’t remember. My toes hurt. Well, the right ones. Still couldn’t feel my left foot. Or ankle. Hm. _That probably isn’t good_.

How long had Connor been carrying me? Felt like forever. I didn’t think I was shivering anymore. Instead I just felt… stiff. And sore. My fingers felt better. His skin was so warm and soft.

_Fuck, I’m tired…_

* * *

Waking up was… not fun.

The first thing I registered was being completely wrapped in warmth. And then the bone-chilling cold in my body. And _then_ the tingling, throbbing pain in my hands and feet. Well… _foot_. Uncontrollable shivers racked my body. My muscles were sore and aching, my head hurt…

_Fuck my life._

I tried to curl into myself but was a bit limited since I was wrapped up in someone’s arms. _Who…?_

“Ali?” Hot hands on my back, waist, arm, shoulder, face… “Can you hear me?”

 _Oh._ Connor.

_Are you really surprised?_

I… guess I wasn’t. Shouldn’t be, anyway.

I—we?—were mostly wrapped in a blanket. Connor’s skin was scorching against mine. Feet tucked under his leg, head rested against his shoulder, his arms completely circling me. I should have been embarrassed or flustered to be in my underwear, curled up against Connor’s bare chest, but I was still just too cold to care. He was warm and he felt nice and the way he was holding me…

_So fucking screwed._

I splayed my hands out on his chest, trying to get as much heat over my fingers as I could. My left foot was still numb, all the way up to my knee. That was… definitely not a good sign.

There was some shuffling and I could hear people talking. Connor shifted slightly, one arm leaving our little cocoon. The cold air that hit my skin as the blanket surrounding me opened stung a bit.

“Ali?”

I didn’t wanna look up. Didn’t want to move. But the arm that was still wrapped around my shoulders nudged me. I sighed and met Connor’s eyes. That stupidly sweet puppy-dog look stared down at me and my stomach did a little flip.

“Do you think you can drink this? It will help to increase your core temperature faster.”

He held a cup in front of my face. I didn’t want to move my hands, but the thought of getting rid of the chill in my chest was more enticing.

“I th-think so.”

The look that passed through his eyes made me bite the inside of my cheek. I probably would’ve blushed if my face wasn’t already beet-red. Connor’s cheeks did seem a little bluer, though.

I let him sit me up so that I wasn’t leaning entirely on him. How was every part of him longer than me? Even sitting he was taller than me.

The cup was warm, which felt nice. My fingers weren’t tingling anymore, though they did still hurt a bit. None of them were numb or blue, though, which was good. I took a careful sip. _Water_. It was kinda hot, but not burning. I could feel it as I swallowed, like when you drink the first bit of hot soup on a cold winter day. My chest already felt warmer and the chill in my core seemed to dull ever so slightly.

Connor shifted, and I realized his other arm was still just kind of hovering next to him, outside of the blanket.

“Are you… You needed heat in close proximity to help raise your core temperature, so I- I thought that this would be the best way to…”

Was Connor… _flustered_? I looked up at him and he was _definitely_ blushing. I had to bite the inside of my lip again to keep the smirk under control. He cleared his throat—unnecessary—and glanced away for a second.

“It’s okay, Connor.” My voice was weak. I could feel the soreness of the bruises as I spoke. “I trust you.” _Ironic._ “Besides, you’re warm and it’s helping.”

I had to look away when he smiled at me because there was no way I could keep the stupid, self-satisfied grin off my face that time. If it was possible for my face to get any redder, it definitely did.

He moved his arm to wrap around me again after a few seconds. I let my shoulder lean against his chest and tried not to let the hand still splayed out on his skin wander. He was so… soft. Surprisingly. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but I don’t think I expected him to be so soft.

We sat in silence over the next few minutes as I finished drinking. I took the time to look around. I didn’t know where we were. Some old, dilapidated building. We were sitting in a sheltered corner, partially obscured from the rest of the room. It kind of looked like a church from what I could see.

My shivering calmed down by the time I was done drinking. Connor took the cup from me and set it on the floor. The rest of my injuries were starting to grab my attention, now. Just about everything was sore. My ribs and shoulder ached the most, but my bruised forearms, scraped and bloody knuckles, and swollen right eye weren’t too far behind. I was pretty sure I’d fractured a rib or two and pulled something in my shoulder. All of my muscles felt stiff and sore, though, probably because of the cold.

Basically? I felt like shit.

I don’t know how much longer we sat there as I slowly stopped shivering. I think I fell asleep against Connor’s chest once or twice. Josh stopped in a few times, bringing more warm water with him. Evidently it was just snow that they’d melted and boiled over a fire. _Rustic_. Connor assured me that it was clean, even though I didn’t ask.

A million different thoughts swirled in my head as I started to feel more like myself. Things I should say to Connor, things we should probably talk about, but… I was just so fucking _tired._ He probably was, too. I couldn’t imagine the confusion he must feel. He’d only _just_ gone deviant. And this felt like a really bad time to have a heart-to-heart.

So, I didn’t say anything. Connor didn’t, either. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. Maybe he was waiting for me to start. It didn’t really matter, I guess. We just sat in silence.

Eventually, I started to feel better. I even got feeling back in my left foot—thank _fucking_ god. I stopped leaning on Connor, forehead scrunched in thought.

“Where are my clothes?”

“I set them aside to dry. You should continue to rest. I’ll get them for you.”

It took a couple seconds for Connor to untangle himself from around me while still keeping the blanket around my shoulders. I missed his warmth as soon as he got up. I didn’t bother trying not to stare. Too tired to bother.

He was less… _indecent_ than I was. Basically in the same weird “disguise,” except he had traded the million-layered-jacket/hoodie/shirt combo for an open button-up. And (thankfully) the beanie had apparently been lost to the Detroit River.

He disappeared past the clearly makeshift curtain that had been set up. I pulled the blanket closer around my shoulder and tucked my feet under me, sitting up a little bit. There was a barrel fire in the corner of the space that I scooted towards, happy for whatever heat I could get. I was barely shivering now and all the tingling and numbness was gone, but it was still winter and the air was frigid.

Connor came back a minute later and held my clothes out to me in a pile. I held the “blanket” (it seemed to be a curtain? Maybe?) around me with one hand and grabbed my stuff with the other.

“I don’t suppose my phone still works, huh?”

That got a small smirk from Connor. I couldn’t help but smile at the bit of tension he shrugged off at my joking tone.

“Unfortunately not, no.”

“Figures.” I looked down and let me shoulders sink a bit. If anyone were to ask, the curtain falling off my shoulders was an accident.

“I… Do you need help? Or should I…?”

I looked back up just in time to catch the furrow of Connor’s brows and the slight blush. I laughed.

“I think I can manage to dress myself. I’ll let you know if I need any help, though.” It was hard to resist the urge to flirt, now. Felt like something had been released in the air between us. _We really need to talk about that kiss, at some point_.

Not tonight, though.

Connor nodded. He hesitated for a second, mouth half open, before turning and leaving my little area. And I was left alone. Again.

I scooted back into the corner furthest from the opening and carefully got dressed. I still felt kinda stiff, but it wasn’t any worse than after a particularly intense training day. The real pain was, well, the actual pain. Doing anything with my right shoulder sucked, and every time I twisted or bent over in a certain way, fire shot through my ribs and echoed in my sides. There was a lot of wincing and swearing under my breath before I was finally decent again. I was a bit surprised Connor didn’t poke his head in to see what all my commotion was about. _Probably figured I’d ask if I needed him_.

Standing was… a chore. I stumbled a bit, my left leg a little wobbly, but managed to take a few steps without falling over. It wasn’t great, and every step felt like I was climbing a steep hill, but it was doable. _I’ll be fine_.

Connor wasn’t right outside as I’d expected. My eyes scanned the room—definitely a church—and my heart sank a bit. There were plenty of androids in here, sure, but it was clear that they were much less than had been in Jericho. They’d been packed in the ship, numbers probably in the thousands, and yet I’d be surprised if there were a few hundred here now.

Eva’s face flashed through my mind and I had to close my eyes against the tears that stung them. I breathed in to calm the burn in my nose. _All for nothing…_

I saw North first. She was probably the person who would be the least happy that I was there, but she was the only familiar face I spotted. So I made my way to her.

As I walked through the pews to the front of the church where she was sitting, the pit in my stomach only got bigger. Everyone was quietly sitting or standing on their own, eyes cast down in a dejected stare. Injured and dead androids sat amongst the living ones. Severed legs, sparks flying from headless husks, and red, dying regulators dotted the crowd. I tried to keep my eyes on the ground in front of me after I’d seen one too many dead or dying. I’d already be having nightmares. Didn’t need to add anymore fuel than they already had.

I noticed the others spread out around the front of the church as I came up behind North. Josh and Simon were on their own on either side of the church, clearly wallowing, while Markus was talking to Connor in a corner near the balustrade.

North’s face was already sour when she glanced up. She didn’t furrow her brows or turn her nose at me, though, which was new. Instead, there was a sadness in her eyes as she lingered on my face before turning to stare into her lap.

I gently lowered myself onto the bench beside her, one hand on the back of the pew and the other pressed against my ribs. I wanted to say something, maybe try to comfort her, but there weren’t words enough for it. Besides, I was pretty sure anything I had to say to her would be hollow and meaningless. I could never understand what she was feeling.

“Thank you.”

Her voice startled me out of my thoughts. I glanced over at her, but she was still looking down at her hands.

“You didn’t have to do anything, back on the ship. But you took Connor’s gun and you defended us, at the risk of your own life. I’m still not sure I trust you, but…” She looked up and met my eye, then, but only for a second. “I’m glad you were there.”

I nodded, not sure what to say. “You’re welcome” didn’t seem appropriate, given the circumstances. So I didn’t say anything. North seemed okay with that.

My fingers were starting to hurt again. Raw skin scraped against the rough fabric of my jacket and I winced. Not sure what else to do, I stood up and slowly made my way over to Connor and Markus.

“There are thousands of androids at the CyberLife assembly plant. If we could wake them up, they might join us and shift the balance of power.”

I walked up halfway through whatever conversation they were having. I stood a few paces away, trying not to invade but not really having anywhere else to go.

“You wanna infiltrate the CyberLife Tower? Connor, that’s suicide.”

“They trust me, they’ll let me in.”

“I can help.” I stepped forward and both of them turned to me. I was probably entirely unconvincing, standing there limping on one leg with a pulled shoulder clutching broken ribs and a black eye. “I want to help.”

“You’re in no shape to fight, Detective, and CyberLife would not let you accompany me.” I deflated a bit at the way Connor dismissed me before turning back to Markus. “If anyone has a chance of infiltrating CyberLife, it’s me.”

“If you go there, they will kill you.”

“There’s a high probability…” Connor looked away, avoiding my stare, but I saw the smirk he tried to hide. “But statistically speaking, there’s always a chance for unlikely events to take place.” I didn’t miss the sideways glance he sent me as he said that. I wasn’t sure what he meant exactly (it could’ve been a million different things), but it felt like the kind of thing that would make me blush.

Markus took a breath before stepping forward and lifting a hand to Connor’s shoulder. “Be careful.” He lingered for a moment, giving Connor a tight-lipped smile, before pulling back and turning to me. “Connor is right. I appreciate all of the help you’ve given us, but I think you’ve done all you can for now. You should go home. You can’t help us if you’re dead.”

I felt the pressure of Markus’ gaze on me. All I could do was nod before hobbling up to Connor as Markus walked away. I stood next to him in silence for a second, watching the other androids and feeling crappy in every possible way.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” I turned to Connor. He avoided my gaze for a second before he finally looked at me. “I never wanted to hurt you.” The look in his eyes made me want to wrap _him_ up in a blanket and hug him and tell him everything would be okay. _Fuck, what he must be going through right now…_

“It’s okay, Connor. You don’t have to explain yourself. I understand. It’s…” I sighed. “It’s not your fault.”

“You tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen.” He looked like a lost puppy that had been kicked when it was down. Sad, guilty, confused, angry… Too many things in one face. Especially one that was so new to feelings in the first place. “I was stupid. I should’ve guessed they were using me. You tried to help me see, help me… feel…”

“Connor, stop.” I started to reach up, maybe to brush a strand of hair or hold his face, but I thought better of it. “I- I’m glad you managed to figure it out. Even if it was a bit late. You deserve to be happy.”

“I could’ve killed you.”

“But you didn’t.” His expression didn’t change. Brows still furrowed, looking like he held the weight of the world on his shoulders. I tried to lighten the mood a bit. “You shouldn’t worry about me so much. You’ve got the future of a whole species to think about.”

“You matter to me, too.”

He said it without hesitation. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He took a step closer and I swallowed, heart beating wildly. We stared at each other for a minute, not moving. His stare was… intense seemed too tame a word. Like a thousand unsaid things laid just behind his eyes. And then he finally spoke again.

“I’ll get you home safely.”


	14. Violet, Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 11TH, 2038  
> PM 08:34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early release! Happy Halloween everyone🎃  
> I'm looking to write a Halloween special cause it's my favorite holiday and I have so many ideas, but I'm not actually sure when it's gonna be done lol it's coming for sure though!!
> 
> We’re starting off from Connor’s perspective this time! God, he is _so hard_ to pin down lol

**Mission: ** Infiltrate CyberLife Tower.

I glanced at the Detective in the seat next to me. She was looking out the window, one arm holding her left side (her fourth and fifth vertebrosternal ribs were cracked) while she leaned the other against the car door. Something twisted in my chest as I watched her. My research told me it was most likely guilt.

So much had happened in the 23 hours since I had deviated.

I AM **DEVIANT**

I still saw the words in my interface. And I still hadn’t managed to decipher my thoughts on the matter. ~~I wasn’t yet ready to confront my _feelings_ on the topic.~~ The new emotions that distracted my processors threatened to overwhelm them. The Detective was a… fairly large part of this.

When she had kissed me, I had _felt_ something. I hadn’t even been **deviant**. But for a few brief moments, I had wanted to hold onto her. ~~She felt nice.~~

And then I had hurt her. Almost killed her. _Twice._

 ** Mission:  ** Infiltrate ~~Ali~~ CyberLife Tower.

And then there were the androids. Thousands of them had died because I had refused to listen to the Detective. Even as she’d put herself in danger and at my mercy. I’d had my hand around her throat. I could have easily ~~eliminated~~ killed her. But she had stared me down just the same. ~~The fire in her eyes was impressive.~~

How had I been so blind? So _stupid_? Hank had tried to tell me that we were on the wrong side, but I was too preoccupied with pleasing Amanda and CyberLife to listen. And then the Detective had tried to stop me from making a huge mistake and I had hurt her to prove my point. It had _felt_ wrong. I should have known, should have listened—

“Hey! Connor!” A sudden shove interrupted my thoughts.

I turned to her after righting myself in my seat. “Yes, Detective?”

She raised an eyebrow, a (teasing) smirk on her face. “I didn’t know androids could zone out.”

I tilted my head to the side. (Confusion?) “What do you mean?”

“You were staring out the window with a lost look on your face, and you didn’t answer me. I thought you’d short-circuited or something.” The corners of her eyes crinkled when she joked like that.

Had I been so absorbed in my thoughts that I had ignored her? She must have thought the worst of me. “I’m sorry, Detective. I was—” ~~thinking about when you kissed me, how it made me feel, how I hurt you, how I caused thousands of androids to die, how I almost caused your death, how I should have listened to you and Hank, how many mistakes I’ve made~~ “—reviewing the events of the past few days.”

“Oh.” Red colored her cheeks and she looked away. Did she know that I could tell when she bit the inside of her lip like that? (Something about it is endearing.)

Her hands fidgeted in her lap as she stared down at them. Adrenaline was pumping through her system and her blood vessels began dilating. ~~She was clearly embarrassed.~~ Had I said something wrong? (Yes.)

She looked back up at me before I could say anything. It made the resistors in my face heat up. “What, um.” The red in her face deepened. “What events?”

My throat tightened. ~~I would need to run a diagnostic later.~~ Was this what it felt like to be put on the spot? (It is uncomfortable. I don’t like it.)

“Never mind, that was dumb, I shouldn’t have asked.” She frantically waved her hands in front of her face as she spoke. Her heartbeat was much faster than normal. ~~She was distressed.~~

“No, it’s all right, Detective.”

“How are you _still_ calling me ‘Detective’? We could not be further from work right now.” Her laugh made me feel like everything would be okay, if only for a moment.

“It’s habit, Detective.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes. (What was this fluttering feeling in my abdomen?) ~~Another diagnostic for later.~~ “Well, break it. I think we’re way passed stuffy honorifics and titles at this point.”

“You’re likely right.” I smirked as I added, “Ali.” I wanted to do whatever had caused her to smile that like all the time.

The rest of the ride to her apartment was quiet. She leaned back in her seat and continued to chew on the inside of her cheek, a small smile lingering on her face. I wanted to reach out to her (to touch her) but I thought better of it.

I followed her to the door of her building. She stopped and turned to me, still biting her lip. I suddenly had the urge to cup her face in my hands (and kiss her.) ~~What were these errant thoughts?~~ Instead, I straightened my shoulders and tightened my jaw.

“Thanks for, uh, escorting me home.” She laughed again, just a quick chuckle, and I had to flex my fingers to keep from reaching out to her.

“Of course, Ali.”

(There is that smile again.) She looked up at me with bright eyes (and made me feel like the most important thing— _person?_ —in the world). She shuffled on her feet and her heartbeat quickened. I tilted my head questioningly but didn’t say anything.

“You’re sure about CyberLife Tower?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at me. ~~She was concerned.~~

“Yes.” She wasn’t reassured by my confirmation. “They trust me. I’m the only one who can do this.”

She nodded, though still seemed unsure. “Right. Just… be careful, okay?”

“Of course.”

“If you… if you or Markus need anything—that I can help with, I mean—just, um. You know.”

She was so nervous. Part of me wanted to pull her into a hug and comfort her. I had hurt her so much. ~~It didn’t seem like the right course of action.~~

 ** Mission:  ** Infiltrate ~~Hold~~ CyberLife ~~Tower~~ Ali ~~~~

“I will let you know if we need you.” ** ~~I~~** ~~need you.~~ (?)

“Good luck. I guess. I mean.” She laughed (awkwardly) under her breath and looked away. “I’m sure you don’t need my luck but, you know. Good luck.”

 ~~She was precious.~~ (??)

“Thank you.” Should I make a joke? (Yes.) “I’m sure your luck will come in handy.”

This time her laugh was sweet. “Good.” She was chewing on her lip again. (More fluttering.) ~~I’d need to prioritize that diagnostic.~~ “I’ll… I’ll see you after all this, yeah?” ~~~~

“Yes.” I didn’t hesitate to answer. (I want to see her again.)

She took the smallest step forward. (Hold her.) “Do you promise?” She looked so small as she stared up at me.

“I promise.” My hand reached out to her face ~~before I realized what I was doing~~. Her eyes widened, pupils dilated, and her heartbeat went wild as I touched her. (She was so soft.) I let my hand fall back to my side. “Let me know when you get inside.”

She blinked, mouth open slightly. Her breathing was irregular. “I’m just going up the elevator, Connor. It’s not exactly dangerous.”

(I need to make sure that you’re safe.) I couldn’t help the way my head tilted forward and my brow raised. The Detective (Ali) shrunk in on herself under my gaze.

The red returned to her cheeks and her shoulders lifted as if to make herself smaller. “Yeah, sure. I’ll text you when I get to my apartment.” She swallowed and fidgeted. Her physiological responses indicated she was stressed. (Nervous?)

“Thank you.”

She nodded. Stared at the ground, brows pulled together. And then she shook her head almost imperceptibly ~~I could perceive the tiniest movement~~ before giving me a small smile.

“Goodbye, Connor.” She said it like she didn’t mean it.

“Goodbye, Ali.” (Please let me see you again.)

I watched her walk into her building and call the elevator. She looked back and waved before she stepped in. I returned the gesture. I could see the blush that crept over her cheeks from where I stood.

* * *

I collapsed against the rail in the elevator after the doors closed, feeling completely exhausted in so many different ways. My body ached—what was new—but _fuck_ my head was in a whirl, too.

Connor was… noticeably different. I hadn’t been sure at first. It wasn’t _too_ obvious; it was the little things. Getting lost in thought, the little jokes, chastising me with a look…

And then also the not-so-little things, I guess. His fingers had been _so hot_ on my cheek. I hadn’t expected that.

I made my way down the hallway in something of a daze. Bad thoughts chased themselves in an endless loop. I didn’t bother trying to cut them off this time. What did it matter?

The entryway light was off, but I could see the one from the kitchen around the corner. I didn’t hear anyone talking.

I kicked my boots off and leaned against the wall on the way to the living area. Violet was sitting at the island, nose buried in her tablet as usual. She was chewing on her thumb, both elbows planted firmly on the countertop, a half-empty bottle of wine sitting in front of her. _She’s been worrying._

And then I suddenly remembered how long I’d been gone. Almost two days. And I hadn’t answered a single call or text. Hadn’t even looked at my phone and then, well, a dip in the Detroit River had totally fried it.

“Um. Hey.”

Violet’s head whipped around as soon as I spoke. I hadn’t noticed Kida laying on the other side of the island, but she came running over. She almost bowled me over as she jumped up, barking and leaving wet kisses anywhere she could reach.

“Holy shit, Ali what-the-fuck-where-have-you-been-what-happened-to-you-are-you-okay- _whatthefuck_.” Violet shot out of the stool and almost fell on her ass as she scrambled over to me, tripping over her words at the same time.

Her hands on my shoulders made me wince, but I let her help me to the island in the kitchen. I kept a soothing hand on Kida’s head, scratching behind her ear as I spoke. “It’s something of a long story. I’m kinda exhausted, though. Mind if we go over the details later and I just soak for a bit?”

The thought of a long, hot bath made me melt a bit. The exhaustion from all my injuries and hypothermia and just _everything_ was starting to catch up to me. I could feel it.

Violet just stared at me like I’d grown a second head for a second. “Ali. Babe. Honey.” _Oh boy_. “I don’t know if you’ve seen a mirror recently, but you look like shit.” The pull to her eyebrows told me to _not_ laugh. “I’ve never seen you this beat up before. I’m pretty sure you need a fucking doctor, not a bath.”

I had half a mind to argue, but… Well. She was right. I’d have one hell of a time trying to explain what the fuck had happened to me, though.

“What if I get in the bath while you call a cab?”

She opened her mouth, an irritated look crossing her face, before she closed it again and rolled her eyes. “Fine. Hobble yourself to the bathroom for a five-second dip. I want the full thing on the way there, though. Not whatever prettied-up story you’re gonna tell the docs.”

I smirked. _She knows me too well._ “Aye-aye, cap’n.”

She hid her grin with pursed lips and narrowed eyes before ushering me off to the bathroom. Kida followed me inside and curled up next to the bathtub, like she always did. I leaned against the door after it closed. Just a second to breathe. I heard Violet swearing to herself a few seconds later and smiled. _I’m going to be the death of her, one day_.

I checked myself in the mirror before I slipped into the bath. Angry red and purple bruises were way too prominent. Ribs, forearms, neck, knuckles, cheek… I really was quite the fucking sight.

The water was still steaming when I stepped into the tub. It stung in the best way. Only took a couple seconds to settle in and the warmth seeped into my bones, chasing out any cold that was left. I wasn’t sure if I just zoned out or fell asleep, but I was suddenly startled back to full consciousness by _something_.

I pushed myself up a bit, watching the door and listening for anything out of the ordinary. Kida had lifted her head, ears perked, staring at the door. _So there definitely was something…_

And then I heard the sound of arguing from the front hall. It was muffled, but I could make out Violet’s voice easily enough. I _had_ known her for just about my entire life.

Then the “conversation” escalated to yelling and what sounded like shit getting knocked over. _Not good. Very not good._

I pushed the tiredness out of my mind as I got out of the tub. Kida was already at the door. I considered getting dressed, just in case, but decided against it and reached for a robe.

And then there was a gunshot and I froze for a second. It was only an instant, though. I threw the robe on as fast as I could, adrenaline pumping through me, soothing out the kinks and pains again.

The hallway was mostly dark, only the lights from the kitchen and bathroom illuminating the space. I took a quick step before a figure stepped into view. Kida growled low as she bared her teeth behind me. It was definitely _not_ Violet. My heart just about stopped as I took them in, though.

Tall, fairly broad-shoulder, glowing LED, brown hair swept to one side, grey jacket with blue accents, and… RK800.

_What the fuck?_

Before I could step forward or ask why he was here, what the yelling was about, my eyes fell to his right hand. Holding a gun. And then they fell further, to the floor on his right, and my world collapsed.

A hand. Flat on the floor. Unmoving. Dark red slowly pooling around it. _No, no, no, no, nonononono_.

He stepped forward. His eyes were cold, mouth set in a tight line. There was blood splattered on his jacket. Violet’s blood.

_Fuck, **please** , anyone but her…_

“Get dressed.” His voice sent a chill down my spine. Emotionless. Just like…

_What the fuck is going on?_

My heart pounded in my ear. I didn’t know how to function.

_It can’t be real. This isn’t fucking real._

“Get. Dressed.” His voice was nothing like it had been less than an hour before. But it was familiar.

He sounded just like he had two days before. When I’d tried to convince him not to confront Markus. After I’d kissed him.

_What. The. Fuck._

This time there was something… different. The android in front of me was definitely more machine than the softening deviant Connor had started to become.

 _There’s **no way** this is my Connor_.

I silently inched forward and opened the door to my room. He followed me in from the hallway. I heard more growling before the bathroom door closed. _I need a plan. Think, Ali, **think**_.

Thoughts raced through my head as I slowly pulled drawers open and grabbed whatever would be easiest to move in. I tried not to think about him standing by the door, watching, as I got dressed. Focused instead on what the fuck I was supposed to do now.

It couldn’t be my Connor. But, realistically, it didn’t matter. I could worry about that later. Could worry about so many things later. I needed to make it to later, first.

I turned to face him. Took stock of the room, his stance, what he had on him. Just the typical CyberLife uniform and handheld pistol. He was a few feet away. My room wasn’t that big. There was a bit of space to fight, but we’d inevitably hit something. Probably the glass table against the wall. I could use that to my advantage.

“Turn around.”

“What the fuck do you—” He stepped forward and my words cut off with a strangled cry. White-hot pain shot through my arm as he grabbed my shoulder and pulled.

“I’m not here to answer your questions.” He let go.

 _Sonofafuckingbitch_. He needed me to be submissive and he knew exactly how to do it.

Desperation overwhelmed me. Adrenaline fueled me. _Don’t give in now. Make this fucker hurt_.

There was no way he didn’t see it coming. He barely even glanced down as he sidestepped my punch. What he _actually_ didn’t see coming, though, was the leg I curled around his knee and _pulled_.

He stumbled and I grabbed at his arm to twist. But he was fast. The gunshot rang in my ear. I felt the pain shoot up my leg. My knee buckled. I fought against the instinct to crumple. _Need to get that fucking gun away from him._

I fell to my knee on the injured leg and put all of my weight behind my shoulder. I heard a loud _crack_ as his back slammed against the wall just behind him. I gritted my teeth at the pain as I stood. _Not now, not now, not now. You’ve been through worse, Ali. Kick his fucking ass._

I threw the first punch as he pushed himself off the wall. He dodged, retaliated. I tried to focus on his movements. He’d try to hit me where he knew it hurt. _Protect your leg and your ribs. Grin and bear the rest_.

He moved to my left side when he dodged a swing. _Going for my ribs_. I tucked my elbow to my side and pushed his fist away. The bruises in my forearms ached with every failed punch and successful block. My shoulder was sore. There was no way I hadn’t made it worse by now.

Tried to land a hit to his eye— _maybe I could damage his scanner or something_ —but he ducked and leaned right. I realized a second too late that it was a fake-out. Pain exploded through my side and chest. I saw stars for a second—for _fuck’s_ sake—and I let out a harsh scream.

I tried to right myself, holding my hands in front of me as a reflex, but he had enough leeway to pull back and land a kick to my jaw. More stars. I fell back and smashed into the edge of the door, stumbling into the hall and then the opposite wall.

 _Perfect leverage_.

He was slow to walk up to me. Probably thought he had the upper hand. Maybe he thought he couldn’t lose. It didn’t matter. _Take advantage of everything_.

I kicked off the wall with my good leg to put as much momentum behind my push as I could. It was enough to send him flying back into the edge of my bedframe. There was another loud _crack_ , probably his backplate.

He didn’t seem to care, though. He was faster this time, rushing me into the wall with one arm pressed against my throat. The bruise hurt, but the pressure cut off blood and air and _fuck_ did it ever hurt. I clawed at his face with both hands. _Had to find something. Pull an audio processor out, gouge an eye, **something**_.

Instead, my fingers dug into the synthetic skin around his LED and I pulled as hard as I could. _Fuck, those things are wired in deep_. It took a second but I managed to tear through some of the wiring. My chest started to burn as I struggled for air.

Thirium leaked onto my hands and down his face. LED flickered yellow and then red before I managed to tear it off and it went dead. Synthetic skin pulled away from his temple. My vision started to go spotty from the lack of oxygen. I clawed at the newly-exposed wires and his arm let up just enough for me to take a breath and refocus.

I brought my arm up and slammed my elbow into him, breaking his hold against me and pushing us off the wall. _Enough of this shit._

Used the leverage from my hand still clawing at his wiring to push him around. Forced his back into the wall. His hands tried to find purchase on my arms but I pulled away. Smashed my fist into his ear. _That oughta damage the audio processor._

I needed to incapacitate him. Even if it was just for a few seconds. Enough time for me to make a run for it.

Pulled him off the wall. He was still clearly blinking away the sudden onslaught of error messages he was no doubt getting. I had no idea what kind of wires I’d fucked with under his LED, but it couldn’t have been good.

I slid my hand from his face to the back of his neck to push him forward. The other held his arm in a vice grip. I grabbed his arm with both hands and spun around, flipping him over my hip. The lower half of his body went through the wall and his upper body crashed through the glass table head-first.

The sound of the glass shattering echoed in my head for a couple seconds. My heart pounded in my chest. Adrenaline kept the worst of the pain from overwhelming me. I blinked down at not-Connor for the briefest moment.

 _Time to fucking go_.

I didn’t bother stopping to grab anything as I tore out of my bedroom. My foot slipped on something slick at the end of the hallway. I slammed onto my chest, hands shooting out just in time to keep me from cracking my head on the floor. For a second I couldn’t breathe. Wind completely knocked out of me. My ears were ringing. _Fuckfuckfuck **get up**_.

My hands were wet and sticky and _red_ but I didn’t have time. I kept my eyes closed as I pushed myself back to my feet and stumbled to my front door. It was wide open.

I heard footsteps coming from the bedroom as I veered right down the hallway. _Run rabbit, run rabbit, runrunrun_. I slammed into the door to the stairwell and just about jumped each flight, taking the steps as many at a time as I could manage. My calf burned with every movement. I was halfway down when I heard the door open above me. _Stick to the wall and don’t stop_.

Our footsteps echoed in the stairwell. I could barely hear it above the blood rushing through my ears. But then there was a loud _crash_ and his footsteps sounded much closer. It took me a second to realize that he was jumping the railing.

 _Fuck_.

Desperation seeped into my bones. He’d catch up to me before the bottom at this rate. Just a few floors left. I took the next door back out into the hallway. Towards the other stairwell. Maybe the elevator, if I got lucky.

But I didn’t. I hit the button on the way by anyway. Just in case.

I was almost to the other stairwell when the door behind me flew open. It only took a few seconds for him to start shooting. _Fuck, so he **had** picked up the gun. Goddamnit._

No point in ducking. Just zigzag. Random patterns. _Don’t think, just move._

And then I was through the second door. Basically falling down the stairs at this point. I was faster this time, though. I made it to the first-floor hallway just as he got into the stairwell. Both doors flying open at the same time. One in, the other out.

The lobby was empty. I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. No time anyway.

I didn’t think about where I was going as I ran through the streets. They were basically deserted. I ducked into an alleyway a block from my front door. Tried to get myself lost in the maze of roads and back alleys. My leg felt like it was on fire. Every step was another shock of pain. My feet felt like icicles as I ran barefoot through the snow. But I couldn’t afford to pay it any mind.

So I kept running. Long after I’d stopped hearing his footsteps. Long after he definitely would have caught up to me.

But, eventually, I couldn’t anymore. My lungs were burning. My chest felt it was about to explode. My leg was numb and in agony at the same time. I collapsed against a building, crumpling into a sweaty, bloody, heaving mess.

My nose burned and then tears trailed down my face. Slowly, at first, and then all at once. Heavy sobs shook my entire body, sapping what little strength I had left. I curled into a ball, face sticking against the blood on my legs, and just fucking _cried_.

I thought I’d already lost everything.

I was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😈


	15. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOV 16TH, 2038  
> AM 09:14

It was… dark.

No.

That didn’t cover it.

I don’t think there were words to describe the… void… that I was in. It wasn’t black, or empty, or “devoid of light.” It was…

Nothing.

It wasn’t like when you closed your eyes or woke up remembering only darkness. It wasn’t the absence of seeing. It was like sight had only ever been an illusion. Something abstract that my mind had made up as I lived in a world of pure thought.

I felt nothing. There was no physical world. I had no body to break or damage. Just my consciousness. Existing.

And then I was dreaming.

It started with flashes of light. Like fireworks or sparklers. Bursts of reality and explosions of color. A swirling vortex of sights and sounds surrounded me. Swept me up in the wind like a tornado. It felt like I was tripping.

 _Wouldn’t be the first time_.

The first I saw of myself was my hands. Just at the edge of my vision, at first, barely registering as things that existed, and then my wrists, and forearms, elbows, biceps. I started to move my head. Looking around. Looked down to see my feet, legs, hips, chest.

_Here I am._

My eyes focused on the vortex spinning around me. Mostly abstract colors and shapes. Then I started to recognize the shapes as they twisted and morphed into people. Faces. I reached out to some. Cowered away from others.

Suddenly, I was falling. Down, backwards, in circles, I couldn’t tell. Just falling. Faces sped past me in a blur. The colors melted together into a rainbow, and then white.

I started to feel my own weight as I fell. My senses came back to me. I already had sight. Now smell, sound, taste, and touch flooded me. I felt air rush past me, cold tickling my bare skin. It was soothing for a bit, until it intensified into pain. Only an ache, first, barely more than annoyance. But it got worse and worse, turning into a blinding agony that overwhelmed everything else.

And then it stopped. I felt my weight buckle as I stopped falling, my arms and legs pulling further down as my descent was unexpectedly… halted.

I blinked and I was somewhere else. Standing in a dark, endless hallway. The air was thick, muggy, like a torturously humid day. It pressed in on me and threatened to suck the breath from my lungs. Suffocating.

 _Clack, clack, clack._ Footsteps. Getting closer. I whipped my head around, looking down the other end of the hall. Nobody there. Back the other way. Nothing. It sounded like they were coming from everywhere at once. Ahead, behind me, in the ceiling, under the floor, through the wall on the left and the one on the right…

“Detective.” Hot breath whispered on my neck.

I shivered and whirled to face the voice’s owner. A dark-haired android loomed over me. Grey suit jacket with blue CyberLife accents and a black tie. Dark red seeping into an otherwise pristine white button-up. Normally brown eyes were completely blacked out, deep shadows overtaking the white sclera.

“Ali?” Another voice, the same and yet more compassionate. Kinder.

A gentle hand rested on my shoulder. I looked down and gasped. Bright red dripped from the hand onto my shirt. I let them turn me around. Turn my back to the doppelganger.

Soft eyes peered down at me. Brows furrowed, mouth slightly open and turned down at the corners. His hair was wet and wild. Way too many layers of clothes, soaked and dripping. God, he was beautiful.

But he was covered in Violet’s blood.

The ground beneath me disappeared and then I was falling. I watched Connor’s faces above me, getting smaller and further away until I couldn’t make out any details. Screaming echoed out in the darkness around me. Arguing, fighting, yelling, swearing, crying.

“This house has everything we’re looking for!” A familiar voice echoed through the dark, surrounding me in its warmth. “You wanna come take a look?” I felt… safe, in its embrace.

Purple hair, twisted into a braid and secured with a daisy. Piercing grey eyes beckoned me to them. Pulling me in, enchanting me, comforting me in a way that felt like home. She was a warm hug, the first sip of hot chocolate on a cold day.

But she was gone.

Hues of violet mixed with red and brown. Dark, bright, neutral, pastel. Swirling together, mixing the vibrant into the dull and decaying. A childhood home, once comforting and safe now corrupted, overrun by mold and ivy, falling apart and destroyed by time. Your favorite teddy bear or blanket, soothing in your infancy but small and dirty once you grow up.

Broken androids cried out for help. Pained screams pierced my ears. Electricity crackled as the crunch of breaking plastic and snapping wires joined the chorus.

I tried to block out the noise, pressing my palms against my ears as hard as I could. I screwed my eyes shut, tears streaming down my face. Sobs escaped my lips. Quiet at first and then loud and broken. My body shook and everything started to hurt. Blood seeped out of my ears, my eyes, my mouth, my nose…

* * *

I woke up slowly, but with a gasp. Aches throbbed all over. I breathed in slowly through my nose. Pain flared through my side and I winced. My breath came out in a hiss. It felt like I was being squeezed when I tried to breathe in.

I opened my eyes, but they were heavy. They blinked a few times, fighting to stay closed. I didn’t see much other than a white tiled ceiling and fuzzy lights before I gave up.

Instead, I focused on my breathing. In, out, in, out. Slowly and deeply. Feeling my chest rise and fall with each breath. The pain in my side started to dissipate a bit. There was still an underlying ache, a soreness, but the stabbing pain subsided.

My mouth was dry and my throat hurt, like when you wake up from a long sleep in a dry room. I swallowed, trying to soothe the ache.

After a minute or two I opened my eyes and actually tried to wake up. I was definitely in a hospital. The IV in my arm felt super weird, but I wasn’t dumb enough to rip it out.

I was bandaged just about everywhere: my chest, my shoulder, my side, my head, my knee. I was a little woozy and the room spun a little bit. I moved to push myself up, maybe sit against the back of the bed, and…

 _Oh_.

What?

 _That… doesn’t feel right_.

I looked down at my legs under the blankets. The right one made it all the way to the edge of the bed, foot tenting the sheets around it, while the left just… stopped. After maybe 10 inches. Huh?

“Oh!” A startled noise made me look up to the door of my room. A nurse stood in the frame, looking a bit shocked as he met my eye. “You’re awake. That’s good! How do you feel?”

I answered his questions as if on autopilot. I couldn’t remember them or my answers as they left my mouth. I felt… dazed. Like I was still dreaming. He gave me water at some point, which I was thankful for. It was empty in a few seconds. The only thing that seemed to register was when he left and said he’d have the doctor come speak to me in a bit. I just nodded.

After he was gone, I looked back at my legs. _Er, leg?_ I lifted my left… thigh. I was suddenly very aware of not feeling my knee or calf. I’d never realized how often I used the muscles. It was strange to only move my thigh.

I didn’t remember falling asleep. The last thing I remembered was looking at my leg, confused and kinda stunned, and then it was just black. Like when you fall asleep so deeply that you don’t dream. One second you’re awake, and then for some incalculable period of time you’re not, and then you’re awake again.

I heard voices as I stirred, this time. Familiar voices. Talking in quiet, hushed tones.

God, my throat hurt again. _Stop falling asleep and maybe you’ll stop drying out your mouth_.

I tried to ask for water as I opened my eyes, but I think the only thing that came out was gargled mumbling. It was not pleasant.

“Oh, shit! Ali.” Chase?

“Damn, kid, you’re tougher than I thought.” There was no way that was Hank.

And yet, there he was. Standing over my bed, arms crossed, looking down at me with an easy smile and a raised eyebrow. Chase stood next to him, both hands clasped on the railing of my bed as they leaned towards me.

“Can I get some water?” Fuck, my voice was raspy. I hated waking up with a sore throat like that.

“Yeah, yeah, for sure, just lemme grab… one…” Chase stepped away from the bed and started rifling through a bag. They pulled out a water bottle after a couple seconds and handed it to me with a weary smile.

I chugged most of the bottle, only a few drops dripping down my chin. I wiped them away with the back of my hand. Too tired to be self-conscious. That was for another day.

“So, uh.” Hank cleared his throat as I looked at him. Clearly uneasy. I’d never seen the old man so… uncomfortable. It was a weird vibe. “You’ve been out for a few days. Some stuff’s happened.”

All I could do was stare at him. My brain still felt so foggy. The room even spun a little bit.

“Yeah.”

Chase chimed in this time. “Somebody heard the commotion the night that you… er, that Violet, I mean…” They chewed on the inside of their cheek as they spoke.

It took a couple seconds for their words to even register. And then her name just replayed in my head like a mantra. Violet, Violet, Violet, _Violet_.

 _Oh_.

Right.

Violet was… and Connor (or not?) had…

 _Fuck_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry lol


	16. Home (Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JAN 21ST, 2038  
> AM 10:23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finished, so I figured I'd give you a double-post today!  
> There's enough trauma already lol

The day they lifted the evacuation order in Detroit, I didn't know what to think.

On the one hand, I hated living in the shitty, overcrowded shelter I'd been assigned to and couldn't wait to be ‘home’ again. I hadn't gotten a chance to get Kida since I'd been unconscious in the hospital when they evacuated, so she'd been left in my apartment back in Detroit. Thankfully Hank had the foresight to give Connor a key so he could take care of her for me. He had relayed Connor's updates on her to me when he visited me in the hospital, though I'd been dodging both of their calls since I got out so I hadn't heard anything in a couple weeks.

On the other hand... shit. There were so many things on the other hand.

When I tried to think of 'home,' nothing came to mind. My apartment was a crime scene. I still woke up in a cold sweat every other night from nightmares of Violet's hand in the hallway, her blood seeping into the floor, and a tall silhouette standing over her.

 _Connor_ ’s silhouette.

I wanted to see Connor, but I also didn't. Partially because I didn't really want to talk to anybody right now—hence dodging his and Hank's calls—but also because I didn't see Connor when I looked at him. I saw the person who had murdered my best friend, tried to kidnap me in the middle of the night, and shot me in the leg both literally and figuratively. I saw his face in my nightmares and it gave me chills.

And then there was Markus, Josh, and North and the other androids. God, I wanted to be happy for them. For the progress that they'd made in the last couple of months and the progress they were continuing to make. But... well. A part of me that I kind of hated was angry. Bitter. Not just with them, but with everything. If I just would've stayed out of it all, none of this would've happened.

Violet would still be alive.

Connor's face wouldn't make me sick.

I would still have my fucking leg.

And what did I even accomplish? Nothing. I hadn't made even the smallest difference. Eva had died in the attack on Jericho. I hadn't been able to warn Markus about it either. Connor's deviancy had nothing to do with me, and I had nothing to do with any of the progress the androids had made because I'd been unconscious after the evacuation and then stuck in the hospital on bed rest for another three weeks after that.

And now I was lying on a cot in the middle of a room of people eager to go back to their homes, feeling completely lost. My thigh ached and my plastic prosthetic chafed. I'd skipped my last three physiotherapy sessions. They made me feel... weak. I hated it.

"Get up."

I looked up to see Chase standing over me, a bag slung over one shoulder and a scowl on their face. My eyes slid back to the tiles on the ceiling. "No, thanks, I'm g—"

Suddenly my arm was yanked and I struggled to steady myself as I was roughly pulled up and to the side. My prosthetic caught against the edge of the cot and pinched the still-healing skin because I never put it on right. I let out a hiss at the pain.

"What the fuck, Chase!?" I ripped my arm away from them. Almost fell over again but managed to keep myself up with a hand on the edge of the cot.

Their expression softened a bit. They sat down next to me, shoulder to shoulder, and sighed. "Sorry, Ali. I'm just..." They rubbed a hand over their face before leaning forward, elbows propped on their knees, head resting in their hands. After a couple seconds they sat back up and looked over at me. "I'm worried about you. You've barely said a word to anyone since we got here, and I've got four androids and a very grumpy old dude breathing down my neck to ask about you."

I leaned forward, trying to avoid their gaze. _Fuck_. What the hell was I supposed to do now? I'd been dreading this day for weeks. The day that I had to 'go back to my old life,' except I couldn't because it didn't exist anymore. And I didn't know what I wanted to do now instead.

Even if I went to physio, I could never be a detective again. I'd need a cybernetic, and there was no way in hell I'd ever be able to afford that. I could probably build one myself, but no doctor would attach it 'cause that was apparently a ‘massive insurance liability.’ And even if I could, the thought of going back to work for the DPD after everything... just felt wrong.

My apartment felt like a nightmare waiting to happen. I didn't want to face any of my friends or Hank or Markus or North or Josh or— _fuck_ —Violet's parents. And Connor...

 _Shitshitshit_.

I squeezed my eyes shut as images of Connor's face, contorted into a sickening grin and teeth dripping red, flashed in front of my eyes. My chest felt tight and my shoulders hurt and I couldn't breathe and—

"Ali, Ali! You're okay, calm down!"

The face started to fade, but then there was a loud BANG and my vision flashed red and I heard a scream and my world stopped and my throat ached.

"Ali! Fuck, shit, it's okay! Shh, Ali, please, it's okay you're okay I promise just pleasestopscreaming."

I felt a pressure around me, soothing and comforting. Something was touching my head—no, not touching, petting. Like someone was smoothing out my hair. And then I felt a breath against the back of my neck and I heard a heartbeat against my ear.

Oh. I was screaming. A thought told me I should stop and so I closed my mouth and let out a shaky breath. My arms shook and I was so, so tense.

Minutes passed as I sat there, slowly coming back to reality. I felt Chase's arms around me, one hugging me tight to their chest and the other gently stroking my hair. They whispered my name and "it's okay, you're okay" over and over again as I calmed down. Eventually I was aware of a couple other people hovering nearby. One of them handed me a glass of water when I looked up which I gladly emptied.

The other one helped steady me as Chase lifted me to stand. The two were talking, but I ignored them. Focused instead on my breathing. On relaxing the tension in my shoulders and back. I let my head fall on Chase's shoulder.

The other two left after a while, and Chase turned to me. "Ali?" I didn't move my head as I hummed a quiet 'mhm?' in response. "Let's get your stuff together, and let's go home, yeah?"

I nodded against their shoulder. They shifted me to stand on my own and handed me my cane before leading me off to gather the few things I had at the shelter. I didn't bother telling them that I didn't have a home anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right. So. What now haha
> 
> I've got the ideas for Part2 already floating around since that story was what I started with, I just wanted some background and character growth for Ali. I'm not sure when I'll be starting that up, but I'm going to stick to one chapter a week for Part2 whenever we get there lol
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading and commenting and leaving kudos!! I appreciate it and hope you've enjoyed this journey♥️


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